Timeline Algeria
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Berber Chronology: http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data/algberbchro.htm
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ag.html
History: http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/algeria/algeria10.html
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USLC: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/dztoc.html
Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Algeria
Algeria sits on top of some 3,000 sq. km. of oil.
(SFC, 12/30/96, p.B1)
Berbers make up 25% of the population.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
4000BC-2500BC A
rock painting from this time in Tassili n'Ajjer, southeastern Algeria,
illustrates a battle between 2 prehistoric groups armed with bows and
arrows.
(NH, Jul, p.29)
218BC-201BC Numidia, ancient Roman name for part of
northern Africa roughly equivalent to modern Algeria. In the Second
Punic War (218-201 BC) between Carthage and Rome, western Numidia
supported Carthage. King Masinissa of eastern Numidia joined the
Romans. With the victory of Rome, Masinissa controlled all Numidia.
(WWW, Encarta, 12/19/98)
105BC The heart of ancient Numidia
lay in the eastern region of what is now Algeria in Northern Africa.
The Numidians were originally nomadic horsemen. They were defeated by
Roman troops in the Jugurthine War in 105 BC and conquered by Rome in
46 BC. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs
conquered the area in the seventh century AD. Jugurtha was the king of
Numidia.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)
49BC Mauretania (now northern
Morocco and Algeria) became a client kingdom of Rome.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)
46BC Numidia was conquered by
Rome. The Vandals and Byzantines ruled successively before Arabs
conquered the area in the seventh century AD.
(HNQ, 6/2/98)
40 Mauretania was divided into the
provinces of Tingitana and Caesariensis.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.22)
200-400 Christianity spread rapidly in Numidia and
the diocese of Lamiggiga was established. It was later abandoned and
just the name was used as an honorary jurisdiction for Catholic
auxiliary bishops.
(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
311 The Donatists were a Christian
sect that developed in northern Africa [Numidia] and maintained that it
alone constituted the whole and only true church and that baptisms and
ordinations of the orthodox clergy were invalid.
(WUD, 1994, p.425)(SFC, 9/19/98, p.C1)
430 Aug 28, Augustine (b.354) died
in Hippo (Annaba, Algeria) with a Vandal army outside the gates of the
city. His writings included "The Confessions." In 1999 Garry Wills
authored the biography "St. Augustine." Augustine had developed the
theory of a "just war" and said a nation’s leaders must consider among
other things, anticipated loss of civilian life and whether all
peaceful options have been exhausted before war starts. In 2003 Garry
Wills authored "Saint Augustine's Sin." In 2005 James J. O’Donnell
authored “Augustine: A New Biography.”
(SSFC, 12/21/03, p.M6)(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.86)(www.connect.net/ron/august.html)
439 Oct 19, The Vandals, led by
King Gaiseric, took Carthage and quickly conquered all the coastal
lands of Algeria and Tunisia. Egypt and the Libyan coast remained in
Roman hands.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)(HN, 10/19/98)
c439 In Mauretania (now northern Morocco and Algeria)
Roman rule ceased in the mid 5th century when barbarian incursions
forced the legions to withdraw.
(AM, May/Jun 97 )
1518 Algiers and Tunis, Barbary
states in North Africa, were founded.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1530-1539 During this period Khayr Ad-Din (d.1546)
known by the European name Barbarossa, meaning Redbeard, united Algeria
and Tunisia as military states under the Ottoman caliphate. He was a
Barbary pirate and later as admiral of the Ottoman fleet.
(HNQ, 4/25/02)
1546 Barbarossa, one of the great
figures in the court at Istanbul, died. Khayr Ad-Din was a Barbary
pirate and later, as admiral of the Ottoman fleet, he united Algeria
and Tunisia as military states under the Ottoman caliphate in the
1530s.
(HNQ, 2/10/99)
1774 Jul 11, Jews of Algiers
escaped an attack of the Spanish Army. Jun 11 was also cited for this
event.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1795 Nov 28, US paid $800,000 and
a frigate as tribute to Algiers and Tunis.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1815 Mar 2, To put an end to
robberies by the Barbary pirates, the United States declared war on
Algiers.
(HN, 3/2/99)
1815 Jun 30, US naval hero Stephen
Decatur signed a treaty ending attacks by Algerian pirates. Commodores
Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge had conducted successful
operations against the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis and
Tripoli [See Aug 5].
(WSJ, 10/9/01,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Barbary_War)
1815 Aug 5, A peace treaty with
Tripoli, which followed treaties with Algeria (Jun 30) and Tunis (Aug
28), brought an end to the Barbary Wars. Commodores Stephen Decatur and
William Bainbridge had conducted successful operations against the
Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli.
(HN, 8/5/98)(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)(ON, 10/06, p.10)
1816 Aug 27, Admiral Sir Edward
Pellew, a noble from Devon, England, bombed Algiers, a refuge for
Barbary pirates. He flew the green, white and black flag of St. Petroc.
In 1836 the battle was pictured in a painting by George Chambers,
Senior. Pellew was subsequently named Lord Exmouth.
(http://tinyurl.com/gjooc)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.66)
1830 Jul 5, The French occupied
the North African city of Algiers.
(AP, 7/5/97)
1831 The original Zouaves, Zouaoua
tribesmen from Algeria, formed their brightly dressed fighting force
and later gained renown for their bravery during the Crimean and
Franco-Austrian wars. American units imitated both the dress and battle
courage of these fierce fighters.
(HNQ, 10/12/01)
1836 Jul 6, French General Thomas
Bugeaud defeated Abd al-Kader's forces beside the Sikkak River in
Algeria.
(HN, 7/6/98)
1845 Sep 8, A French column
surrendered at Sidi Brahim in the Algerian War.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1846 Oct 10, Alexis the
Tocqueville wrote about the "Algerian problem."
(MC, 10/10/01)
1848 Delacroix painted “Women of
Algiers in Their Apartment.”
(SFC, 1/22/05, p.E1)
1856 In France Emperor Napoleon
III decided to quell an impending revolt in Algeria by sending a
magician, who would demonstrate the power of the Europeans to the
natives. He sent Jean-Eugene Robert Houdini (1805-1871). The 1998 novel
"The Magician’s Wife" by Brian Moore is based on the historic events.
The magician is named Henri Lambert.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A20)(SFEC, 1/25/98, BR p.5)
1905 Sep 14, Pierre de Brazza
(b.1852), Franco-Italian explorer, died and was buried in Algeria. He
was born in Italy and later naturalized French. Brazza single-handedly
opened up for France entry along the right bank of the Congo that
eventually led to French colonies in West Africa. In 2006 his remains
were exhumed and moved to a mausoleum in Brazzaville, capital of the
Republic of Congo.
(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Savorgnan_de_Brazza)
1909 Nov 15, M. Metrot took off in
a Voisin bi-plane from Algiers, making the first manned flight in
Africa.
(HN, 11/15/98)
1913 Nov 7, Albert Camus (d.1960),
French philosopher, novelist, and dramatist was born in Mondovi,
Algeria. He is best known for his book "The Stranger."
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(HN, 11/7/98)
1916 Charles de Foucauld, a former
French army officer turned monk who lived among the Tuareg people in
the Sahara, was killed in an anti-French uprising in Algeria. In 2005
he was beatified by Pope Benedikt XVI. Inspired by the monk, groups
known as the Little Sisters and Little Brothers of Jesus were formed in
Algeria.
(AP, 11/13/05)
1919 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian
statesman, was born. He served as premier from 1962-1965.
(WUD, 1994 p.137)
1936 Yves St. Laurent, fashion
designer, was born in Oran, Algeria.
(SFC, 1/9/97, p.E7)
1940 Jul 4, British destroyed
French battle fleet at Oran, Algeria, 1267 died.
(Maggio)
1941 Jul 3, Liamine Zeroual was
born.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)
1942 Admiral Jean Francois Darlan,
leader of the armed forces of Vichy France, was assassinated in Algiers.
(HN, 6/16/98)(HN, 7/5/98)
1942 Oct 21, Eight American and
British officers landed from a submarine on an Algerian beach to take
measure of Vichy French to the Operation Torch landings.
(HN, 10/21/00)
1942 Oct 23, The Western Task
Force, destined for North Africa, departed from Hampton Roads,
Virginia. The command of the Western Task Force, part of an invasion of
North Africa during World War II known as Operation Torch, was given to
General George Patton. Placed under the command of General George
Patton, the Western Task Force had the advantage of having a man at the
top who would stop at nothing to see that the mission was accomplished,
a quality that would be needed in the days ahead. Naval operations were
in the hands of Rear Adm. H. Kent Hewitt, an easygoing man who, in the
beginning, found it difficult to work with Patton, but with increasing
familiarity became a solid partner.
(HN, 10/23/98)(HNQ, 12/8/00)
1942 Nov 8, Operation Torch began
during World War II as U.S. and British forces landed in French North
Africa. Gen’l. Eisenhower landed with American troops in Algiers,
Casablanca.
(AP, 11/8/97)(HN, 11/6/98)(WSJ, 6/4/98, p.A19)(MC,
11/8/01)
1942 Nov 10, Admiral Jean Darlan
ordered French forces in North Africa to cease resistance to the
Anglo-American forces. Admiral Jean Francois Darlan, leader of the
armed forces of Vichy France, was assassinated in Algiers in 1942.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1942 Nov 13, Lt Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower flew to Algeria to conclude an agreement with French Admiral
Jean Darlan. The Admiral was assassinated soon after.
(HN, 11/13/99)
1942 Nov 14, Last Vichy French
troops in Algeria surrendered.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1942 Dec 24, Jean LXF Darlan,
French admiral and leader of the armed forces of Vichy France, was
murdered by Gaullists in Algiers.
(HN, 7/5/98)(MC, 12/24/01)
1943 May 29, Churchill, Marshall
and Eisenhower met in the Confederacy of Algiers.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1944 Mar 15, In Algiers, the
provisional government merged the Office Français d'Information
and France-Afrique, thus forming Agence Française de Presse
(AFP).
(www.afp.com)
1945 May 8, Algerian demonstrators
in the town of Setif unfurled an Algerian flag, banned by the French
occupiers. As police began confiscating the flags, the crowds turned on
the French, killing about two dozen of them. This led to an uprising in
which Algerians say some 45,000 people may have died. Figures in France
put the number at about 15,000 to 20,000. No one is quite sure.
(AP, 5/9/05)
1951 Nov 1, The Algerian National
Liberation Front began guerrilla warfare against the French.
(HN, 11/1/98)
1954 Sep 10, A 12 second
earthquake killed 1,460 in Orleansville, Algeria.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1954 Oct
31, The Algerian Revolution (1954-1962) against the French began.
Algerian Muslims of the Front de Libération National (FLN),
began open warfare against French rule in Algeria. [see Nov 1]
(DoW, 1999, p.10)
1954 Nov 1, Algerian nationalists
began their successful eight-year rebellion against French rule. [see
Oct 31]
(AP, 11/1/06)
1954 Nov 24, France sent 20,000
soldiers to Algeria.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1954-1962 During the Algerian war of independence
French generals approved torture and the disappearance of the 3,000
suspected guerrillas. In 1977 Alistair Horne of Britain authored "A
Savage War of Peace." In 2000 former Gen. Paul Aussaresse testified on
French military behavior and the approval of Gen. Jacques Massu. In
2001 a mass grave of 290 people was found at the site of the former
headquarters of the French army. In 2001 former Gen. Aussaresses
authored "Special Services: Algeria: 1955-1957." In 2002 Aussaresses
was convicted of "trying to justify war" and was fined $6,500.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B9)(SFC, 4/24/01, p.A12)(SFC,
5/11/01, p.D4)(SFC, 1/26/02, p.A8)
1954-1989 Leon-Etienne Duval served as archbishop of
Algiers, He was one of the first French public figures to recognize
Algeria’s right to independence and worked to that end.
(SFC, 5/31/96, p.E2)
1955 Aug 20, Hundreds of people
were killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1956 Mar 27, French commandos
landed in Algeria.
(MC, 3/27/02)
1956 Apr 11, French government
sent 200,000 reservists to Algeria.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1956 May 10, French government
sent 50,000 reservists to Algeria. [see Apr 11]
(MC, 5/10/02)
1956 May 27, The French staged a
raid in Algiers.
(MC, 5/27/02)
1956 Jun 22, The battle for
Algiers began as three buildings in Casbah were blown up. France under
PM Guy Mollet resolved to put down the Arab uprising and put 400,000
soldiers in Algiers.
(HN, 6/22/98)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)
1956 Sep 30, In Algiers a blast at
the Milk Bar cafe together with another device set off nearby, killed
three people and wounded 60, including children. Several people lost
limbs sliced off by flying glass. Zohra Drif (20) set one device as a
reprisal for a big French bombing that killed dozens in the Casbah
weeks earlier. Captured soon afterwards, she was sentenced to death and
spent five years in French prisons.
(Reuters, 9/28/06)
1956 Sep, Sanche de Gramont (23),
a graduate of Yale, departed for Algeria. He spent 16 months there as a
French lieutenant working for a pro-French newspaper. He later changed
his name to Ted Morgan and in 2006 authored “My Battle of Algiers.”
(WSJ, 2/2/06, p.D8)
1956 Oct 22, France intercepted a
Moroccan plane and arrested Ben Bella, an Algerian statesman.
(MC, 10/22/01)
1956 Gen. Jacques Massu (d.2002 at
94) took command of the French 10th Parachute Division, the elite force
tasked with maintaining order in Algeria.
(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A17)
1956-1959 France laid minefields on the Challe and
Morice Lines on the eastern and western borders of Algeria. In 2007
France gave Algeria maps of these minefields. Some 11 million mines
were laid along the borders to prevent infiltration into Algeria from
Morocco and Tunisia by fighters of Algeria's National Liberation Army
(ALN). From 1962-2009 over 8 million Algeria destroyed over 8 million
of the mines.
(AFP, 10/8/09)
1957 Jan, France began sending
troops to Algeria to crush the rebel movement in what came to be called
"The Battle for Algiers."
(SFC, 5/11/01, p.D4)
1957 May 29, Algerian rebels
killed 336 collaborators.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1957 Jun 16, There was a French
offensive in Algeria.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1957 Dec 25, Ramdane Abane
(b.1920), Algerian Berber revolutionary leader, was assassinated in
Morocco.
(www.amazighworld.org/history/personalities/ramdane_abane.php)(SFC,
6/28/08, p.E2)
1958 May 13, French troops took
control of Algiers as French settlers rioted against the French army.
(HN, 5/13/98)(MC, 5/13/02)
1958 Jun 4, French premier De
Gaulle arrived in Algiers.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1958 Jun 6, Premier Charles de
Gaulle said Algeria will always be French.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1958 Oct 23, De Gaulle offered
Algerian defiance "peace of the brave."
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 Apr 12, France Observator
reported torture practice by French army in Algeria.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1960 Jul, French Gen. Raoul Salan
led a failed army revolt in Algeria and then fled abroad, continuing to
direct increasing terrorist Secret Army Organization (OAS) attacks on
the French and Algerian governments, turning the Algerian War of
Independence into a three-way war in Algeria and a right-wing guerrilla
insurrection in France.
(http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/foxtrot/france1960.htm)
1960 Feb 13, Gerboise Bleue ("blue
jerboa") was the name of the first French nuclear test. It was an
atomic bomb detonated in the middle of the Algerian Sahara desert,
during the Algerian War (1954-62).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerboise_Bleue)
1960
Apr 1, France exploded a 2nd atom bomb in the Sahara Desert.
Gerboise Blanche (“white gerboa”) was a surface shot fired in a seven
meter deep pit, which accounted for the strange, Christmas tree-like
shape of the fireball. General Ailleret once again personally initiated
the firing of the device.
(www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=112)
1960 Dec 27, France exploded a 3rd
atom bomb in the Sahara Desert, code-named Gerboise Rouge (“red
gerboa”).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerboise_Bleue)
1961 Apr 21, The French army
revolted in Algeria.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1961 Apr 22, An uprising of French
parachutists was led by Gen. Salan/Challe in Algeria.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1961 Apr 25, France exposed
soldiers to a nuclear test, code-named "Gerboise verte" or green
gerboa, in the Sahara Desert. In 2010 a French news report, citing a
classified defense document, said the exposure was intentional to study
how the atomic bomb would affect their bodies and minds. In total,
France conducted 210 nuclear tests, both in the atmosphere and
underground, in the Sahara Desert and the South Pacific from 1960-1996.
(AP, 2/17/10)
1961 Apr 26, French paratroopers'
revolt was suppressed in Algeria.
(MC, 4/26/02)
1961 Oct 17, Paris police beat and
killed dozens of Algerian demonstrators and threw some bodies into the
Seine. The police were commanded by Maurice Papon. Papon said some 30
bodies had been recovered from the Seine but that they had been killed
in fighting between rival Algerian nationalist groups. In 1999 France
agreed to open its archives on the issue. Police killed 210 Algerians
who were protesting against police oppression and the curfew imposed
against their community in Paris.
(WSJ, 5/5/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A15)(Econ,
2/24/07, p.99)
1962 Feb 5, French President
Charles De Gaulle called for Algeria's independence.
(AP, 2/5/97)
1962 Mar 18, France and Algerian
rebels agreed to a truce, which took effect the next day.
(HN, 3/18/98)(AP, 3/18/08)
1962 Mar 19, Relative calm
returned to Algeria after cease-fire, ending 7 years of warfare between
French and Algerian Nationalists.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1962 Apr 20, The Secret Army
Organization (OAS) leader and ex-general Salan was arrested in Algiers.
(MC, 4/20/02)(PCh, 1992, p.984)
1962 May 2, OAS (Secret Army
Organization) struck in Algeria.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1962 May 23, OAS leader general
Raoul Salan was sentenced to life in prison. French general Raoul Salan
led a failed army revolt in Algeria (July, 1960) and then fled abroad,
continuing to direct increasing terrorist Secret Army Organization
(OAS) attacks on the French and Algerian governments, turning the
Algerian War of Independence into a three-way war in Algeria and a
right-wing guerrilla insurrection in France.
(http://tinyurl.com/d8qm2)
1962 Jul 1, Some 6 million of a
total Algerian electorate of 6.5 million cast their ballots in the
referendum on independence. The vote was nearly unanimous. De Gaulle
pronounced Algeria an independent country on July 3. The Provisional
Executive, however, proclaimed July 5, the 132nd anniversary of the
French entry into Algeria, as the day of national independence.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/falgeria1954.htm)
1962 Jul 3, French Pres. Charles
De Gaulle pronounced Algeria an independent country following the July
1 elections. De Gaulle evacuated Algeria and a million settlers flooded
into France.
(WSJ, 11/16/95,
p.A-18)(www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/falgeria1954.htm)
1962 Jul 5, Algeria’s Provisional
Executive proclaimed July 5, the 132nd anniversary of the French entry
into Algeria, as the day of national independence. French Pres. Charles
De Gaulle had pronounced Algeria an independent country on Jul 3
following the July 1 elections. A massacre in Oran, Algeria, left
96 dead.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/alpha/falgeria1954.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/a5ky8)
1962 A gas fire in Algeria called
“The Devil’s Cigarette Lighter” had burned for 6 months until it was
put out by Texas firefighter Red Adair (1915-2004).
(Econ, 8/14/04, p.78)
1962-1963 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian statesman, served
as prime minister. He served as president from 1963 to 1965.
(WUD, 1994 p.137)(http://www.rulers.org/indexb2.html)
1963 Mar 19, Algeria demanded that
France negotiate on ending nuclear testing in Algerian Sahara.
(AP, 3/19/03)
1963-1979 Mouloud Hamrouche, economic reformist,
served as the prime minister. Abdelaziz Bouteflika served as the
foreign minister.
(WSJ, 4/16/99, p.A12)
1964 Jun 15, The last French
troops left Algeria.
(HN, 6/15/98)
1965 Jun 19, Col. Houari
Boumedienne (1932-1978) overthrew Pres. Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's
first civilian president. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was Boumedienne's
right-hand man.
(SFEC, 4/18/99,
p.A22)(www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0107272.html)
1969 The first Panafrican Festival
took place in Algiers amid widespread euphoria. Most African nations
had just gained independence, they were full of hope, and Algeria was
spearheading the nonaligned movement balancing between the Western and
Soviet blocks. A 2nd Panafrican Festival did not take place until 2009.
(AP, 7/9/09)
1970 Sep 12, US professor Timothy
Leary, LSD proponent, escaped from a California jail. Leary escaped
from the State Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo with the help of his
third wife, Rosemary and the Weather Underground. He went to Algiers
and joined Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver, who kidnapped the
Learys after a political disagreement. They soon escaped and made their
way to Afghanistan. In 1974 he was caught and revealed his
collaborators to the FBI.
(http://tinyurl.com/4ncp8t)(SFC, 6/1/96, p.A7)(SFC,
7/1/99, p.A9)
1971 Feb 24, Algeria nationalized
French oil companies.
(www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Algeria-ENERGY-AND-POWER.html)
1973 Nov 28, Arab League summit in
Algiers recognized Palestine.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/arabsum73.html)
1973 Oct 16, OPEC, the Arab
oil-producing nations, announced they would begin cutting back on oil
exports to Western nations and Japan. The next day, the five Arab
members of the OPEC committee were joined in Kuwait by the oil
ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The result was
a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 and caused oil prices to
quadruple.
(www.harvardir.org/articles/1659/)(AP,
10/17/97)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1975 Mar 6, OPEC held a meeting in
Algiers attended for the first time by its members’ top leaders. Here
the Algiers Accord between Baghdad and Teheran put an end to their
border dispute and brought all Iranian help to the Kurdish rebellion to
a halt. The United States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds
and the rebellion collapsed. Many thousands of Kurdish fighters and
their families were forced to flee to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi
army.
(http://mondediplo.com/2002/10/06timeline)(SFC,
11/19/07, p.A11)
1975 The Algerian film "Chronicle
of the Years of Embers" was produced.
(SFC, 9/6/99, p.B5)
1978 Dec 27, Algerian President
Houari Boumediene, one of the Third World's most prominent and
outspoken leaders, died after 40 days in a coma.
(AP, 12/27/03)
1979 Feb 18, Snow fell in the
Sahara Desert of southern Algeria.
(www.distant.ca/UselessFacts/fact.asp?ID=103)
1979 Jul 4, Algerian ex-president
Ben Bella (b.1918) was freed after 14 years of detention, but remained
under house arrest. He had served as prime minister from 1962-63, and
as president from 1963-65. Bella was freed on Oct 20, 1980.
(http://www.rulers.org/indexb2.html)(www.cnn.com/almanac/9807/04/)
1980 Oct 10, Some 4,500 died when
a pair of earthquakes struck NW Algeria. In 1983 the “El-Asnam Algeria
Earthquake of October 10, 1980 a Reconnaissance and Engineering Report”
was published.
(http://tinyurl.com/2ud4vh)
1980 In Algeria Berber
anti-government sentiment was mobilized in the "Tamazight Spring"
uprising.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
1983 Algeria signed a secret deal
with China for the fabrication of the 15MW Es Salam reactor at Ain
Oussera. It came online in 1993.
(http://isaintel.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=1)
1984 Jul 3, Raoul Salan (b.1899),
French general, OAS leader (Algeria), died. Salan was one of the four
Generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation, and then
founded the Organization armée secrète (OAS) terrorist
group.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raoul_Salan)
1984 Porch, Douglas authored
"The Conquest of the Sahara," NY: Knopf. Tuaregs -- Algeria History.
Algeria -- History -- 1830-1962.
(WWW, 12/19/98)
1985 The ban on rai music was
lifted. The music was marked by a danceable beat produced on the
darbuka drum and fused influences from beyond the Arab world. It had
grown out of the nightclub music of the 1930s, which was based on more
traditional North African song.
(WSJ, 9/19/00, p.A24)
1987 Apr 7, Ali Mecili, a lawyer
active in Algeria's human rights movement, was killed by three gunshots
in the foyer of his Paris apartment. Colleagues accused the Algerian
government of involvement. In 2008 Algerian diplomat Mohamed Ziane
Hasseni was arrested at an airport in the French port city of
Marseille, based on an international arrest warrant. A Paris judge had
signed the orders for the arrest of Hassani and the suspected killer,
Abdelmalek Amellouet, in December last year. Hasseni was released on
Feb 27.
(AP, 10/17/08)(http://tinyurl.com/67pryj)(AP, 2/2809)
1988 Apr 20, Gunmen who had
hijacked a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet were allowed safe passage out of
Algeria. An agreement also freed the remaining 31 hostages and ended a
15-day siege in which two passengers were slain.
(AP, 4/20/98)
1988 Oct 11, Violence began to
subside in Algeria, where mass rioting by youths had broken out a week
earlier, prompting the government to declare a state of siege.
(AP, 10/11/98)
1988 Oct, Berber riots left
hundreds dead in the "Black October" riots.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
1988 Nov 12, The Palestine
National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, opened a four-day
meeting in Algiers, during which delegates proclaimed an independent
Palestinian state.
(AP, 11/12/98)
1989 Jan, In Spain ETA called a
unilateral truce to help ultimately unsuccessful peace talks in Algeria.
(AP, 3/22/06)
1989 Feb 23, Algeria adopted a
new, relatively liberal constitution. It disestablished the ruling
party and made no mention of socialism, while promising freedom of
expression, association, and assembly.
(WSJ, 12/3/96,
p.A22)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Algeria)
1989 Jul, Rai singer Cheb Mami
returned to Algeria for his 1st concert in a decade. In 1999 Mami
recorded "Desert Rose" with Sting.
(WSJ, 9/19/00, p.A24)
1991 Dec 27, Muslim
fundamentalists in Algeria won a major victory in free legislative
elections; however, the military ended up canceling the election
results.
(AP, 12/27/01)
1991 In Algeria the military
forced Prime Minister Mouloud Hamrouche to resign.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C2)
1991 In Algeria leaders of the
outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) were arrested and sentenced to
12 years in prison. Abassi Madani and Ali Belhadj were released Jul 2,
2003.
(Econ, 7/12/03, p.40)
1991 US intelligence discovered
that Algeria possessed a nuclear research reactor at Ain Oussera, which
was surrounded by air defenses.
(Econ, 8/25/07, p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/2j86s7)
1991-1995 The US has won 54% of all new oil
exploration licenses in this time.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-10)
1991-1998 Chronicle of Algeria.
(http://mondediplo.com/1999/03/04algeria)
1992 Jan 10, In an army coup the
government cancelled elections that were running strongly in favor of
the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). France supported the move which led
to a bloody struggle between the Algerian army and Algerian
fundamentalist (Armed Islamic Group, GIA) guerillas that by 1995
claimed nearly 40,000 lives and numerous bomb attacks in France.
(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-22)(SFC, 11/14/96, p.A12)(SFC,
1/8/96, p.A7)
1992 Jan 11, The president of
Algeria (Chadli Bendjedid) resigned, two weeks after Muslim
fundamentalists had defeated his ruling party in legislative elections.
(AP, 1/11/02)
1992 Feb 9, The government of
Algeria declared a state of emergency to quell spreading Muslim
fundamentalist unrest.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1992 Jun 29, Mohammad Boudiaf
(73), the president of Algeria, was assassinated by his body guard
during his first public appearance, in Annaba. A few seconds after the
president Mohammed Boudiaf spoke the words “We are all going to die,”
an assassin in uniform raised his submachine gun and killed the
Algerian head of state. It was his first trip outside Algiers since he
took office after a military coup in January. In the confusion and
panic that followed, 41 other people were wounded by gunfire and
grenades. Boudiaf was succeeded by army officer Liamine Zeroual.
(http://tinyurl.com/pdcmb)(www.therace.ws/facts007.html)
1992-1995 The civil war in Algeria claimed some
40,000 lives.
(www.heritage.org/Research/Africa/BG1060.cfm)
1993 Nov, In Algeria an ultimatum
issued by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) urged foreigners to leave or be
killed. GIA terrorists assassinated Sheikh Mohamed Bouslimani, who was
closely associated with Hamas, a more moderate Islamist group, when he
agreed to participate in a dialogue with the regime.
(http://www.emergency.com/algrwarn.htm)
1993 Dec 14, In Algeria a large
group of armed terrorists attacked a work camp of a hydro-electric
project in Tamezguida. Fourteen Croatian citizens were taken out of the
camp. Twelve were murdered by having their throats slit, but two others
escaped with injuries.
(www.milnet.com/state/chrono93.htm)
1993 The Armed Islamic Group (GIA)
first emerged and became most active around Algiers.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)
1993 Karima Belhadj was the first
woman killed in a rebel attack.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.B10)
1994 Sep, Lounes Matoub, a popular
Berber singer, was kidnapped by Islamic militants. He was held for over
2 weeks and released after over 100,000 people demonstrated for his
freedom.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
1994 Dec 24, Armed Islamic
fundamentalists hijacked an Air France Airbus A-300 carrying 227
passengers at the Algiers airport; three passengers were killed before
the hijackers were killed by French commandos in Marseille two days
later.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)(AP, 12/24/99)
1994 Dec 26, French commandos
stormed a hijacked Air France jetliner on the ground in Marseilles,
killing four Algerian hijackers and freeing 170 hostages. The Air
France plane was hijacked by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria Dec 24.
(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)(AP, 12/26/99)
1994 Dec 27, Four Roman Catholic
priests—three French and a Belgian—were shot to death in their rectory
in Algiers, a day after French commandos killed four radicals who had
hijacked an Air France jet from Algiers to Marseille.
(AP, 12/27/00)
1994 Algeria closed its common
border with Morocco after Morocco claimed Algerian secret service
agents were behind an Islamist extremist attack in Marrakesh. Algiers
later set a global settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara as a
precondition for reopening the border.
(AFP, 7/30/08)
1994 Islamic militants killed Cheb
Hasni, a rai singer. This led to increase of defections by musicians to
France.
(WSJ, 9/19/00, p.A24)
1995 Jan 30, At least 42 people
were killed and nearly 300 wounded when a car bomb blamed on Muslim
insurgents exploded in downtown Algiers.
(AP, 1/30/00)
1995 Feb 22, Security forces in
Algiers crushed a prison uprising by Islamic extremists, resulting in
96 deaths by official count.
(AP, 2/22/00)
1995 April 4, Fierce fighting
continues in Algeria as Muslim revolutionaries struggle against the
military regime in power. It was estimated that over 1,000 people are
being killed per month. France backs the military regime who, stopped
free elections last year when it was clear that the Muslim
fundamentalists were going to win.
(NPR)
1995 Aug 20, The Algerian
government planned presidential elections for Nov. 16, but Muslim
militants vowed to derail the plans. Some 40,000 people have been
killed since the government cancelled elections in 1992.
(WSJ, 8/21/95, p.A-1)
1995 In Algeria a bloody struggle
continued between the army and Islamic fundamentalist forces, which
included the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) and the GIA (Armed Islamic
Group).
(WSJ, 10/23/95, p.A-1)(WSJ, 10/26/95, p.A-22)(SFC,
7/2/99, p.A12)
1995 France imposed lengthy
cross-checks for Algerians traveling to Europe due to the war with
Islamist rebels. The weeks long wait was finally reduced in 2006.
(Econ, 11/18/06, p.48)
1995 Algerian Gen. Mohamed
Boutaghene, commander of the Coast Guard, was killed by gunmen in south
Algiers. He was the highest ranking officer killed in four years of
struggle.
(WSJ, 11/29/95, p.A-1)
1995 French subway train bombings
left 8 people dead. In 1999 five people linked to Algerian militants
were sentenced to 10-year prison terms for the attacks. 16 others
received lesser sentences. In 2002 Boualem Bensaid and Smain Ait Ali
Belkacem, Islamic militants, were convicted and sentenced to life in
prison for their roles in the bombings.
(WSJ, 9/16/99, p.A1)(SFC, 10/31/02, p.A9)
1995 In Algeria more than 3,000
people died this year in fighting between the government and Islamic
fundamentalists.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1996 Feb, Two car bombs killed 17
and wounded 93 in Algeria's capital.
(WSJ, 2/12/96, p.A-1)
1996 May 23, The Armed Islamic
Group said that it had killed seven French Trappist monks who were
kidnapped two months ago from the Notre Dame de l’Atlas monastery at
Tibhirine near Medea on Mar 27. In 2002 John W. Kister authored "The
Monks of Tibhirine."
(SFC, 5/24/96, p.A14)(WSJ, 2/19/02, p.A24)
1996 May 30, Former arch-bishop of
Algiers, Cardinal Leon-Etienne Duval, died in Paris. He was one of the
first French public figures to recognize Algeria’s right to
independence.
(SFC, 5/31/96, p.E2)
1996 Jul 15, An Algerian court
sentenced 128 Muslim militants to death in absentia for their
involvement in guerilla activities. Another 67 were sentenced in
absentia to life imprisonment.
(SFC, 7/16/96, p.A7)
1996 Jul 20, A bomb exploded in
suburban Algiers and killed 5 people. 30 more were injured.
(SFC, 7/21/96, p.A13)
1996 Jul 16, An ambush in Algeria
killed the former head of a militant Muslim group.
(WSJ, 7/29/96, p.A1)
1996 Aug 15, Armed militants
killed 17 passengers on a bus using a fake police barricade on a remote
highway.
(SFC, 8/19/96, p.A9)
1996 Aug 17, More than 100
militants shot, stabbed and hacked to death some 63 people when they
attacked 2 busses after setting a fake barricade. The government denied
the report.
(SFC, 8/20/96, p.A9)
1996 Oct 21, The Mayor of Algiers,
Ali Boucetta, was killed by a stray bullet in fighting between security
forces and rebels in Algiers.
(SFC, 10/22/96, p.B1)
1996 Oct 22, A new constitution
was drafted that would ban Islamic militants from seeking power. It was
to be put up for referendum on Nov. 28.
(SFC, 10/23/96, p.A10)
1996 Nov 13, Militants slit the
throats of 12 people outside Blida, 30 miles south of Algiers. Ten of
the victims were of the same family.
(SFC, 11/14/96, p.A12)
1996 Nov 14, Militants slit the
throats of 18 people. 11 in Ain-Dema and 7 in Douar Zemala.
(SFC, 11/15/96, p.A18)
1996 Nov 28, A referendum was
passed that banned political parties based on religion, language and
regionalism, a reference to the large Berber community which has long
worked for recognition of its language. Opponents denounced the
elections as a sham.
(SFC, 11/30/96, p.A12)
1996 Dec 6, In the last 2 days 29
civilians have had their throats slit by rebels.
(SFC, 12/7/96, p.A10)
1996 Dec 26, A car bomb exploded
in a crowded suburb of Algiers. At least 10 were killed and 86 injured.
(SFC, 12/27/96, p.B3)
1996 Authorities shut down the
newspaper La Nation run by Salima Ghezali.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C2)
1997 Jan 7, In Algiers a car bomb
killed 13 and wounded 10.
(SFC, 1/8/96, p.A7)
1997 Jan 19, A car bomb killed 21
and wounded dozens in Algiers just hours after attackers massacred 36
villagers south of the capital.
(SFC, 1/20/97, p.A12)
1997 Jan 21, In Algeria 2 car
bombs in the capital killed as a many as 18 people.
(SFC, 1/22/97, p.A8)
1997 Jan 28, Union leader Abdelhak
Benhamouda was killed by an assassin. A bomb in the marketplace at
Blida killed 15 people.
(USAT, 1/29/97, p.8A)
1997 Feb 2, In Algeria Islamic
guerrillas killed 31 people. The dead were all believed to be related
to a dissident member of the GIA, the Armed Islamic Group. After their
throats were cut a dwarf hacked off their heads with an ax and a knife.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 5, Rebels killed a family
of 9 by hacking off their heads in Benchikao. The government in Algiers
began banning parked cars in the city to thwart car bomb attacks.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.C2)
1997 Feb 18, Islamic militants
shot, hacked or burned to death 33 people in Blida, south of Algiers.
Meanwhile the government passed a law that banned political parties
based on religion, language and regionalism.
(SFC, 2/19/96, p.A10)
1997 Apr 6, In Algeria attackers
massacred 90 villagers at various sites over the last 2 days. 52 people
had their throats slit near Medea by about 50 killers; 15 were killed
in Amroussa and their bodies were burned with gasoline.
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Apr 21, In Algeria rebels
butchered 93 people including 43 women and girls in the Baouch
Boukhelef-Khemisti farming community.
(SFC, 4/23/97, p.A5)
1997 Apr 25, A bomb killed some 21
passengers and injured 20 near Algiers.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.A12)
1997 May 6, A car bomb in Algiers
killed 4 students and injured 25 people.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.C3)
1997 May 15, Armed men massacred
30 villagers, 17 of them children, in Chebli, 15 miles south of the
capital.
(SFC, 5/16/97, p.A8)
1997 May 22, In Algeria a car bomb
killed 15 people in Boufarik south of the capital.
(SFC, 5/23/97, p.A18)
1997 May 23, In Algiers 2 car
bombs exploded and killed 7 people and wounded 12 in the town of
Tlemcen.
(SFC, 5/24/97, p.C1)
1997 May 29, In Algeria armed men
attacked a home in Djebabra and slit the throats of 6 men and 2 women.
(SFC, 5/30/97, p.A16)
1997 Jun 5, Algeria scheduled
Parliamentary elections. In a 65% turnout pro-government forces took
the largest share of votes. Two Islamist parties picked up 1/4th of the
parliament seats. Monitors were not allowed to inspect some 5,000
portable voting booths.
(SFC, 5/16/97, p.A8)(SFC, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1997 Jun 16, In Algeria
post-election violence more than 50 people were slain in recent days.
Blame was place on the Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 6/17/97, p.D2)
1997 Jun 19, A bomb in an Algiers
movie theater killed 2 and wounded 20.
(WSJ, 6/20/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 9, Adbelkader Hachani,
Muslim fundamentalist leader, was freed hours after an Algerian court
sentenced him to 5 years in prison. He had been held without trial
since 1991 when the military voided a vote that his group was set to
win.
(WSJ, 7/10/97, p.A1)
1997 Jul 14, A bomb exploded in an
Algiers market filled with women and children and killed 21 people and
wounded 40. Weekend massacres left 40 villagers dead.
(SFC, 7/15/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 15, Abassi Madani, former
leader of the Islamic Salvation Front, was released in Algeria after
serving 5 years of a 12 year sentence.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.C12)
1997 Jul 15, An Algerian court
condemned 24 Muslim militants to death for their involvement in
guerrilla activities.
(SFC, 7/16/97, p.A10)
1997 Jul 22, Algerian troops
killed 140 of 180 radical Islamist guerrillas in the Attatba area of
Blida province in an offensive that began 10 days ago.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A9)
1997 Jul 24, It was reported that
Algerian security forces killed Antar Zouabri (26), the chief of the
Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A11)
1997 Jul 30, It was reported that
Muslim militants in Algeria massacred over 80 villagers in recent
attacks in apparent retaliation to a government offensive. 40 villagers
were killed at Metmata village in Ain Defla province.
(WSJ, 7/29/97, p.A12)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A15)
1997 Aug 1, In Algeria 38
villagers at Sidi el Madani in Blida province were killed.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A19)
1997 Aug 8, In Ddjelfa, Algeria, a
bomb in a baby bassinet killed 9 people. In the village of Zeboudja
insurgents slit the throats of 21 people and 20 others were shot and
wounded.
(SFC, 8/11/97, p.A8)
1997 Aug 28, In Algeria a 2nd bomb
this week killed 8 people in the Casbah.
(USAT, 8/29/97, p.8A)
1997 Aug 29, In Algeria some 300
villagers of Rais were slain by hooded men armed with axes in an
Algerian farm village in the worst carnage since an Islamic insurgency
began. In addition 20 young women were abducted.
(SFC, 8/30/97, p.A10)(AP, 8/29/98)
1997 Sep 4, In Algeria 22 people
were killed in El Arbi. Their throats were slit and bodies burned.
(SFC, 9/5/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 6, In Algeria at least 87
people were killed and 100 injured by about 50 attackers in the town of
Beni Messous.
(SFEC, 9/7/97, p.A8)
1997 Sep 13, In Algeria security
forces killed 8 suspected Muslim militants in a rocket attack on a
mosque in a suburb of the capital. Earlier a Muslim cleric was
assassinated by suspected militants in Constantine.
(WSJ, 9/15/97, p.A1)
1997 Sep 15, In Algeria 7 people
were killed in Saida by masked assailants and four people had their
throats cut in Medea.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 21, In Algeria an armed
group killed 53 people in Beni-Slimane and then mutilated and burned
the bodies.
(SFC, 9/22/97, p.A9)
1997 Sep 23, In Algeria the
government reported that 85 people were killed, while eyewitnesses
counted more than 200 bodies in the Bentalha neighborhood of the Baraki
suburb of Algiers. Armed men raided an Algerian village, killing at
least 200 people in one of the worst massacres since Algeria's Islamic
insurgency began.
(AP, 9/23/98)(SFC, 9/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 24, In Algeria the
Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) declared a truce and blamed recent
killings on a splinter fundamentalist group, the Armed Islamic Group
(GIA).
(WSJ, 9/25/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/27/97, p.A10)
1997 Sep 26, In Algeria militants
attacked the village of El Hadj and killed 15 people.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 27, In Algeria witnesses
said armed men killed 11 female teachers at Ain Adden School in Sfisef
while shouting "Blood, blood, blood, destruction, destruction,
destruction," the rallying cry of the Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 9/30/97, p.A12)
1997 Oct 2, In Algeria attackers
killed 20 members of a wedding party in Blida.
(SFEC, 10/5/97, p.A22)
1997 Oct 3, In Algeria armed men
killed 38 people at the village of Mahelma. Throat of the victims were
slit, heads were cut off and houses were set on fire. In Blida 10
people were killed and 20 wounded by assailants with homemade rockets
and bombs. Another group of attackers killed 75 others including 34
children. In the village of Ouled Benaissa armed men killed 37 people
including 22 children.
(SFC, 10/4/97, p.A10)(SFEC, 10/5/97, p.A22)
1997 Oct 5, In Algeria armed men
attacked a school bus near Blida. The driver attempted to run their
roadblock but crashed and 16 children were killed by the attackers.
(SFC, 10/6/97, p.A11)
1997 Oct 14, Fifty-four people
were massacred near the main oil and gas center. Four leading human
rights organizations called on world leaders to take steps to halt the
crises in Algeria.
(SFC,10/15/97, p.C2)
1997 Oct 23, Algeria held local
elections. The government claimed a 66% turnout. The winners will
choose 2/3 of the members of the upper house of parliament. Pres.
Zeroual will choose the other third. Opposition parties charged that
the turnout was greatly inflated and that some poll watchers were
roughed up and stopped from observing the tally.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.D2,4)(SFC,10/24/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 27, In Algeria some
15,000 supporters of the Socialist Forces Front marched to protest
fraud in the elections.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 30, In Algeria some
30,000 marched in Algiers in protest over the elections and called for
the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.
(SFC,10/31/97, p.D2)
1997 Nov 8, In Algeria armed men
raided a government-held village and slaughtered 27 people in Lahmalit.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov 9, In Algeria attackers
disguised as policemen slit the throats of 28 civilians in 2 separate
attacks in the northwest.
(SFEC,11/10/97, p.A13)
1997 Nov, A senior Algerian
officer accused the secret service of being responsible for the Sept.
massacre in Beni Messous where over 200 died.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.A14)
1997 Nov, In Algeria the armed
wing of the FIS began to observe a truce.
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A12)
1997 Dec 9, A former Algerian
diplomat in London said that the government was involved in the recent
massacres of civilians to garner support against the Islamic
opposition.
(SFC,12/10/97, p.A14)
1997 Dec 17, In France Salima
Ghezali, Algerian human rights campaigner, received the European
Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought.
(SFC,12/18/97, p.C12)
1997 Dec 22, In Algeria attackers
stormed Shari hamlet and killed 28 villagers including 15 children and
5 women. The same night 53 villagers, mostly women and children, died
in a massacre in the neighboring Sidi el Antar hamlet. Another 11 had
their throats cut in Algiers in the Bainem area.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A19)
1997 Dec 25, In Algeria Interior
Minister Mustapha Benmansour announced that the ruling National
Democratic Rally won 80 of 96 contested seats.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A19)
1997 Dec 28, In Algeria assailants
cut the heads off a man and his 2 sons in the village of Djelfa. They
then kidnapped his wife and 3 young daughters. At Hassi Bahbah an armed
group killed a mother and 2 children and left the father in critical
condition.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)
1997 Dec 29, In Algeria armed
attackers stopped a bus and killed 14 passengers and the driver near
Mascara. The bodies were then doused in gasoline and set on fire.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)
1997 Dec 30, In Algeria marauders
slit the throats of 34 people in Ain Boucif. Later reports raised the
number killed near the city of Relizane to over 400 for this first day
of Ramadan.
(SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)(SFC, 1/3/98, p.A8)
1997 Michael Willis authored
"Islamist Challenge In Algeria; A Political History." Hardcover, 448
pages. In recent years, like many countries caught between the tides of
fundamentalist religion and secular culture, Algeria has been rocked by
social upheaval, protest, spasmodic violence, and terrorist activity.
Middle East scholar Michael Willis here charts the meteoric rise of one
of the largest and most powerful Islamist movements in the Muslim
world. Pub: New York University Press.
(WWW, 12/19/98)
1998 Jan 3, In Meknassa, Algeria,
a 117 people were killed. In Chekala some 200 people were killed.
Villagers fled their homes and sought shelter in big-city public
squares.
(SFC, 1/7/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 8, The EU decided to send
a fact-finding mission to Algeria. New reports said 30 more people were
killed in the region of Relizane.
(SFC, 1/9/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 9, In Algeria another 35
people were killed.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 11, In Algeria 11 more
people were killed over the weekend.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 12, In Algeria gangs of
men hurled bombs into a mosque in Haouche Sahraoui and a movie
theater in Sidi Ahmed and up to 120 people were killed. It coincided
with the 6th anniversary of the coup that thwarted the Islamic
Salvation Front’s rise to power by cancelled elections. The number
killed was reported by local papers to be at least 400.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A11)(SFC, 1/14/98,
p.C2)(www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=10201)
1998 Jan 15, Algeria’s government
agreed to a revamped EU delegation to seek ways to end the violence.
(SFC, 1/16/98, p.B4)
1998 Jan 19, European
diplomats arrived in Algeria to discuss ways to end the violence after
another 16 people were killed in an eastern province.
(SFC, 1/20/98, p.D2)(WSJ, 1/20/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 20, The envoys concluded
their mission in Algeria as 3 people were killed by a bomb in Ben
Aknoun District, another 3 by a bomb in the village of Ziralda. 2
people died from a bomb thrown into a cafe in Boussaken. King Fahd of
Saudi Arabia offered his nation’s assistance to end the bloodshed.
(SFC, 1/21/98, p.A8)
1998 Jan 25, In Algeria 20 people
had their throats cut in the village of Frenda. Local media reported
that 50 people were killed in Kaid Ben Larbi. Ambushes and bombings
were widespread as the celebration of Leilat El Qadr (night of destiny)
began in recognition of the end of Ramadan. The government reported 29
rebels killed in 3 clashes in the last few days.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 1/26/98, p.A1)
1998 Jan 28, The Algerian military
reported 3 more civilian massacres that killed 34 people and said that
18 Muslim rebels were killed.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 2, The Algerian military
reported that they killed 60 rebels in a weekend offensive. Local media
said 17 civilians were killed in 3 massacres in western and southern
provinces.
(WSJ, 2/3/98, p.A1)
1998 Feb 15, Armed men killed 32
people in 3 weekend attacks. 17 people had their throats slit in Saida,
Algeria.
(SFC, 2/16/98, p.A11)
1998 Feb 23, A bomb exploded under
a passing train near El Affroune, Algeria. Ten people were killed and
25 injured.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.A10)
1998 Mar 8, In Algeria attackers
slit the throats of 6 people on a farm in Haouch Mena, near the home
village of Antar Zouabri, believed to be the leader of the militant
Armed Islamic Group.
(SFC, 3/9/98, p.A11)
1998 Mar 30, In Algeria some 123
people including 58 civilians and many children were reported killed in
the west and south in the last 3 days.
(WSJ, 3/30/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 4, The daily El
Moudjahid, a pro-government newspaper, reported that over 200 Islamic
militants were killed in an army-led offensive in the last 12 days in
western Algeria.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A16)
1998 Apr 6, In Algeria armed
groups killed at least 35 civilians in 2 separate attacks. 27 were
killed near Oran and 89 near M’Sila.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A16)
1998 Apr 13, In Algeria it was
reported that Muslim clerics ruled to allow women raped by Islamic
militants to have abortions.
(WSJ, 4/13/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 28, In Algeria 40 people
were killed in a massacre at a village in Medea province.
(SFC, 4/29/98, p.A11)
1998 May 26, Police in 5 European
countries arrested 74 alleged Algerian separatists. 53 were arrested in
France and 21 in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The idea was
to dismantle terrorist networks prior to the World Cup.
(SFC, 5/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jun 25, In Algeria Lounes
Matoub (42), a popular singer and Berber patriot, was killed near Beni
Douala. The Armed Islamic Group later claimed responsibility.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)(SFC, 7/2/98, p.C2)
1998 Jun 26, Hundreds rioted in
eastern Algeria over the death of Lounes Matoub.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)
1998 Jul 2, Algeria agreed to
allow a UN team to investigate the killings and promised free access to
all sources of information.
(SFC, 7/3/98, p.A16)
1998 Jul 5, Algeria celebrated
independence and put into effect a new law making Arabic the country’s
sole official language. The Berber minority struggled to have the
government recognize their own language, Tamazight.
(SFC, 6/27/98, p.A13)(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 8, In Algeria Khalifi
Athmani (24), a leading member of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), was
killed outside the capital. Athmani’s nom de guerre was Hossein Flicha
and he was believed to have led the Sep. ‘97 killings at Beni Messous.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 9, In Algeria a bomb
exploded in a flea market in Algiers and killed 10 people and wounded
21.
(SFC, 7/10/98, p.A18)
1998 Jul 26, In Algeria attackers
in Khelil in Tlemcen province and in Sidi Abdelmoumen in Saida province
killed 20 people in overnight attacks.
(SFC, 7/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 31, In Algeria 6
civilians were killed and 23 wounded in 2 overnight attacks. In Malakou
village in Tiaret province 4 villagers had their throats cut and in
Algiers a parcel bomb killed 2.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A11)
1998 Aug 31, An explosion in
Algiers killed at least 17 people.
(SFC, 9/1/98, p.A9)
1998 Sep 11, Algeria’s Pres.
Liamine Zeroual (57) announced that he would step down by Feb 1999
following early elections.
(WSJ, 9/14/98, p.A28)
1998 Sep 13, Algerian security
forces said 27 people were killed in Zougala in Ain Defla province.
Other sources said 38 people were killed.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.C2)
1998 Sep 16, Algeria was rebuked
for abuses by its security forces by a UN report. Amnesty Int’l. called
the report a whitewash.
(WSJ, 9/17/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 4, US and Algerian navies
conducted a small joint search-and-rescue exercise in the Mediterranean.
(SFC, 12/3/98, p.A17)
1998 Oct 30, The UN extended its
460-member peacekeeping force in the Western Sahara over land contested
between Morocco and the Algerian-based Polisario Front.
(SFC, 10/31/98, p.A15)
1998 Nov 29, In Algeria 7 people
were killed by suspected Muslim militants on the eve of Ramadan in 4
separate attacks in the western mountains.
(SFC, 11/30/98, p.B10)
1998 Dec 8, In Algeria 45 people
were killed in Tadjena. Armed groups attacked three villages in the
area and killed a total of 81 people. Security forces dug up 46 bodies
from a well at a farm in Meftah, 10 miles from central Algiers.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.A12)(SFC, 12/12/98, p.B1)
1998 Dec 10, In Algeria the death
toll for the month reached 200.
(WSJ, 12/11/98, p.A1)
1998 Dec 14, In Algeria Prime
Minister Ahmed Ouyahia resigned.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 27, In Algeria armed
groups attacked 2 villages and killed at least 30 people at Khenis
Miliana and Ain N'Sour.
(SFC, 12/29/98, p.A8)
1998 Charles-Robert Ageron
authored "Modern Algeria: A History from 1830 to the Present." It was
translated by Michael Brett.
(WWW, Amazon, 12/19/98)
1998 The Algerian Salafist
Group for Call and Combat (GSPC) was created in a split with the
radical Armed Islamic Group, or GIA. The dissidents reportedly were
discontent with civilian massacres carried out by the GIA.
(AP, 5/15/03)
1999 Jan 19, In France 8 men were
sentenced to prison for providing arms and logistics to the banned
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria.
(SFC, 1/20/99, p.A10)
1999 Mar 24, In Algeria Muslim
rebels slashed the throats of 9 people and kidnapped 2 women near
Blida. The victims included a mother and her 2 children.
(SFC, 3/25/99, p.A10)
1999 Apr 14, In Algeria 6 of the 7
presidential candidates withdrew to protest fraud in the early stages
of voting. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the remaining candidate, was backed by
the generals who have ruled since 1962. The vote was meant to end the
civil war that has killed 75,000 people since 1992.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.C3)(WSJ, 4/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 15, Algeria held
elections. Abdelaziz Bouteflika was left alone in the race after 6
competitors withdrew over allegations that the vote was rigged. A 60%
turnout was reported. Bouteflika said he would turn down the post
without a massive turnout and a large majority support.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A5)(SFC, 4/16/99, p.A18)
1999 Apr 16, In Algeria protests
broke out in Algiers, Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia over the elections.
Abdelmalek Sellal, the Interior Minister, said Bouteflika received over
7.4 million votes, 70% of the 10.5 million votes cast. Sellal said 60%
of the eligible voters cast ballots, but others said the turnout was
under 25%.
(SFC, 4/17/99, p.A10)
1999 May 23, In Algeria men armed
with guns and bombs attacked a village near Medea and killed 10 people.
(SFC, 5/24/99, p.A13)
1999 Jun 6, In Algeria the Islamic
Salvation Army (AIS) declared an end to their guerrilla struggle. The
2,000 member group had been observing a cease-fire since 1997.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A11)
1999 Jun 11, In Algeria 14 people
were killed by an armed group in Sidi Naamane.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 26, Algeria’s Pres.
Bouteflika announced a plan for thousands of political prisoners to be
granted amnesty in a plan for "civil concord." The proposed amnesty law
excluded those with "blood on their hands."
(SFC, 7/2/99, p.A12)
1999 Jun 27, In Algeria the
president raised the death toll in the 7-year civil war against rebel
groups to 100,000.
(WSJ, 6/28/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 11, The senate approved
Pres. Bouteflika's amnesty law for the Islamist rebels. It still
required voter approval.
(SFC, 7/12/99, p.A9)
1999 Jul 20, Algerian government
sources said rebels had cut the throats of 9 villagers in Medea
province.
(SFC, 7/21/99, p.C2)
1999 Aug 15, In Algeria an armed
group killed 29 people near Beni Ounif.
(SFC, 8/16/99, p.A10)
1999 Sep 15, Algeria held a
referendum on Pres. Bouteflika's amnesty law. Voters endorsed the plan.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.C3)(SFC, 9/17/99, p.D6)
1999 Nov 20, In Algeria some 20
people were killed in a clash between guerrillas and security forces
south of Algiers.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A15)
1999 Nov 22, Abdelkader Hachani
(43), a leader of the Islamic Salvation Front who spoke for peace and
reconciliation, was assassinated in Algiers.
(SFC, 11/23/99, p.A15)
1999 Dec 2, In Algeria 16 alleged
Islamic militants were killed by government soldiers near Chlef, 148
miles west of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 11, In Algeria 15 people
were massacred outside Blida. Many of the victims were burned alive in
a van.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B3)
1999 Dec 13, In Algeria militants
attacked and killed 11 nomads in the desert town of Taghit, 620 miles
southwest of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/15/99, p.B3)
1999 Dec 14, In Seattle Ahmed
Ressam (32), an Algerian, was arrested after crossing the border at
Port Angeles from Canada with a car trunk with over 150 pounds of
bomb-making materials that included 200 pounds of urea, timing devices
and a bottle of RDX, cyclotrimethylene trinitramine. Canadian
authorities later issued an arrest warrant for Abdelmajed Dahoumane for
possessing or making explosives. Dahoumane was arrested in Algeria In
Oct, 2000. In 2001 Ressam admitted that he planned to detonate a bomb
at the LA Int’l. Airport. Mokhtar Haouari provided fake ID and $3,000
to Ressam. Haouari was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2002. In 2005
Ressam was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
(SFC, 12/18/99, p.A1)(SFC, 12/20/99, p.D3)(SFC,
12/25/99, p.A3)(SFC, 12/30/99, p.A5)(SFC, 12/7/00, p.C10)(SFC, 5/30/01,
p.A5)(SFC, 1/17/02, p.A12)(SFC, 7/28/05, p.A3)
1999 Dec 15, In Algeria suspected
Islamic militants killed 11 government soldiers and wounded 22 others
near Chlef, 148 miles west of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/16/99, p.C2)
1999 Dec 22, An Algerian
accused of trying to smuggle nitroglycerin and other bomb-making
materials into the United States from Canada pleaded innocent in
Seattle to all five counts of a federal indictment. Ahmed Ressam was
convicted in April 2001 of terrorist conspiracy and eight other charges.
(AP, 12/22/04)
1999 Dec 22, In Algeria a 5.8
earthquake struck near Oran and at least 20 people were killed and 75
injured.
(SFC, 12/23/99, p.C7)
1999 Dec 24, In Algeria Islamic
militants killed 29 people at a roadblock near Khemis Miliana, some 50
miles west of Algiers.
(SFC, 12/25/99, p.A14)
1999 France finally called the
Algerian conflict a "war." Prior to this France referred only to
operations to "maintain order.”
(AP, 11/29/05)
2000 Jan 11, Algeria’s Pres.
Bouteflika gave a blanket pardon to all members of the Islamic
Salvation Army 2 days before a deadline for all Islamic militants to
lay down their arms.
(SFC, 1/12/00, p.A11)
2000 Jan 13, In Algeria the
deadline for the surrender of Islamic militants expired.
(SFC, 1/14/00, p.A14)
2000 Jan 29, In Arris, Algeria, 11
community guards were killed by Islamic militants of the Salafist Group
for Preaching and Combat led by Hassan Hattab.
(SFC, 2/1/00, p.B2)
2000 Feb 6, In Algeria army troops
killed 27 Islamic militants. 23 were killed near Sidi Bel Abbes and 4
along with one government soldier near Ain Defla.
(SFC, 2/8/00, p.a14)
2000 Feb 28, In Algeria an armed
group massacred 20 people, shepherds and their families, near Brezina.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A12)
2000 Feb 29, The Algerian army
began a crack down on Islamic militants following the massacre of 25
shepherds near Brezina. Over the next 3 weeks they killed 35 militants
around El-Bayadh and Ghardaia.
(SFC, 3/22/00, p.A12)
2000 Nov 27, The Muslim holiday of
Ramadan began.
(SFC, 11/28/00, p.A2)
2000 Dec 9, In Algeria 5 soldiers
and an assailant were killed in an ambush near Tissemsilt. Another 3
local guards were killed in Boghar and the attacks continued the next
day.
(SFC, 12/12/00, p.B2)
2000 Dec 12, Ethiopia and Eritrea
signed a peace pact in Algiers. A 4,200 UN peacekeeping force was set
to patrol the border. Pres. Zenawi and Pres. Afwerki signed the accord,
which established a commission to mark the 620-mile border, exchange
prisoners, returned displaced people and hear claims for war damages.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)(SFC,
12/13/00, p.B3)
2000 Dec 16, In Algeria armed
gunmen shot to death 15 students and a security guard at the Lycee
Technique of Medea boarding school.
(SFC, 12/18/00, p.E6)
2000 Dec 20, The media reported
that violent deaths during Ramadan had reached 250.
(SFC, 12/21/00, p.C2)
2001 Jan 9, In Algeria 4 Russian
engineers went mushroom picking in the forest of Edough and were found
with their throats cut 2 days later.
(SFC, 1/10/01, p.A9)
2001 Jan 17, Attackers killed a
dozen people at a roadblock west of Algiers and shot to death 5 people
at a café south of the city.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 18, In Algeria 23
shepherds and farmers were killed in the Dahra region by armed
assailants.
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Jan 19, In Algeria gunmen
killed 11 family members in Medea.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.D4)
2001 Jan 28, In Algeria an armed
group killed 2 dozen people in Oued Fares in the Chlef region. 16 of
the dead were children.
(SFC, 1/29/01, p.A14)
2001 Mar 18, In Algeria weekend
attacks by suspected Islamic militants left 5 people dead and 23
injured.
(SFC, 3/20/01, p.A11)
2001 Apr 18, In Algeria a Berber
teenager died while being held in a police station.
(SFC, 6/20/01, p.A9)
2001 May 3, In Algiers thousands
of protesters demonstrated against what they called a government
crackdown on ethnic Berbers.
(SFC, 5/4/01, p.A14)
2001 Jun 14, In Algeria hundreds
of thousands of people protested in Algiers over economic and political
issues and 2 journalists were killed in clashes with riot police.
(SFC, 6/15/01, p.A18)
2001 Jun 18, In Algeria’s Kabyle
region 3 police officers were killed and dozens injured in riots
provoked by the April 18 death of a Berber teenager in a police station.
(SFC, 6/20/01, p.A9)
2001 Jun 19, Algeria banned
protests in the capital following 2 months of unrest that had left at
least 55 dead.
(WSJ, 6/20/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 12, In Algeria assailants
attacked a convoy of farmers and slashed the throats of 17 people in
Oule-d-Bouaza.
(SFC, 8/15/01, p.A7)
2001 Aug 29, In Algiers a bomb
exploded in the Casbah and 34 people were injured.
(SFC, 8/30/01, p.A12)
2001 Sep 26, Spain detained 6
Algerians with alleged links to Osama bin Laden and a group planning
attacks on US targets in Europe.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 26, In Algeria suspected
Islamic militants killed 22 people in Larbaa. 12 of the dead were
killed while celebrating a wedding.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D6)
2001 Oct 4, Algeria’s Pres.
Bouteflika promised to recognize the Berber language, compensate
victims of police brutality and prosecute police involved in brutality.
(WSJ, 10/5/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 11, A 36-hour storm hit
Algeria and 337 people were reported killed. It was the worst flooding
in 20 years. The death toll reached 580.
(SFC, 11/12/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 11/12/01, p.A1)(SFC,
11/17/01, p.A24)
2002 Feb 9, In Algeria security
forces killed Antar Zouabri, head of the Armed Islamic Group, and 2
other insurgents in Boufarik.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.A14)
2002 Apr 1, In Algeria Islamic
militants killed 21 government soldiers in Moulay Larbi, 280 miles SW
of the capital.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A7)
2002 May 30, In Algeria
legislative elections for the 380-seat parliament were held. 2 key
parties planned to boycott as did many ethnic Berbers of the Kabylia
region. Islamic militants massacred 23 nomads. Berber riots took place.
The national Liberation Front of PM Ali Benflis won 199 of 389 seats.
The turnout was just 46%.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.A7)(SFC, 5/31/02, p.A12)(SFC,
6/1/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 11, In Algeria alleged
Islamic militants opened fire on a bus, killing 11 people. Ten others
were wounded.
(AP, 6/12/02)
2002 Jun 22, In Algeria shootings
and bombings blamed on Islamic militants have killed seven people and
wounded 35 others over the last two days.
(AP, 6/22/02)
2002 Jul 5, A bomb ripped through
an open-air market in Larba, 15 miles SE of Algiers on Algeria's
independence day, killing 49 people and wounding 36 others.
(AP, 7/5/02)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A6)(AP, 7/7/02)
2002 Aug 16, In Algeria Islamic
insurgents reportedly killed 26 people, including women and children,
in a rural western hamlet.
(AP, 8/16/02)
2002 Aug 24, It was reported that
Algerian elite soldiers, backed by artillery and helicopters, killed 16
suspected Islamist rebels during a week-long operation against
guerrillas east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 8/24/02)
2002 Oct 10, In Algeria Prime
Minister Ali Benflis' party swept local elections, with voting in the
restive Berber region marred by a boycott, riots and attacks on police
officers. The National Liberation Front gained control of 668 out of
1,541 town councils and took 43 of 48 district councils.
(AP, 10/12/02)
2002 Oct 24, In Algeria attackers
killed 21 members of the same family, including a three-month old baby,
in a massacre that bore the hallmarks of Islamic extremists.
(AP, 10/25/02)
2002 Nov 23, An Algerian militant
group suspected of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda killed nine
soldiers in violent clashes east of Algiers. Four police officers were
killed 2 days earlier in Bourmedes.
(AP, 11/24/02)
2002 Dec 3, In western Algeria 6
soldiers and 6 suspected Islamic militants were killed during fighting
in the Stamboul forest.
(AP, 12/8/02)
2002 Dec 12, In western Algeria a
bomb exploded at an outdoor market, killing four people and wounding 16.
(AP, 12/12/02)
2003 Jan 4, In Algeria Islamic
militants (GSPC) ambushed a military convoy in the northeast village of
Theniet el-Abed. 43 soldiers were killed and 19 wounded.
(AP, 1/5/03)
2003 Jan 5, In Algeria rebels
killed 13 people form 2 families near the capital in Zabana. The
Armed Islamic Group was suspected.
(AP, 1/5/03)
2003 Jan 29, The body of
Abdelmalek Benbara (41), a member of the Algerian prime minister's
party reported missing Jan 17, was found in a car in Paris.
(AP, 1/30/03)
2003 Feb 25, Striking
government workers brought much of Algeria, but not its lucrative oil
fields, to a halt, with no public transport and few flights. Suspected
Islamic extremists fired machine guns at cars at a roadblock, killing
12 people.
(AP, 2/25/03)(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Feb 26, In Algeria it
was reported that more than 7,000 people were believed missing at the
hands of security forces during the 1990s.
(AP, 2/26/03)
2003 Mar 6, An Air Algerie
Boeing 737 jet crashed killing 102 passengers and crew in the southern
Algerian province of Tamanrasset. At least 1 person survived.
(AP, 3/6/03)(SFC, 3/7/03, p.A14)
2003 Apr 4, In Algeria 8 Austrian
tourists were reported missing. Searchers using camels and helicopters
equipped with heat-seeking sensors were already scouring the Sahara
Desert for 21 tourists, mostly Germans, who vanished in Algeria over
the past six weeks.
(AP, 4/4/03)(SSFC, 4/6/03, p.A8)
2003 May 2, Mohammed Dib, novelist
and poet, died outside Paris. He was one of Algeria's best known
writers but had left the country for France in 1959.
(SFC, 5/6/03, p.A16)
2003 May 6, Six Algerian soldiers
were killed when suspected Islamic fighters bombed their vehicle and
sprayed the survivors with gunfire.
(AP, 5/7/03)
2003 May 13, Algerian army
commandos freed 17 European tourists kidnapped in the Sahara Desert by
an al-Qaeda-linked terror group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and
Combat. 9 captors were killed and 15 hostages remained.
(AP, 5/14/03)(Econ, 9/3/05, p.44)
2003 May 21, In Algeria a 6.7
earthquake struck near Algiers. More than 2,200 people were killed and
thousands injured. Thenia, 40 miles east of Algiers, was worst hit.
(SFC, 5/22/03, p.A1)(AP, 5/25/03)(SFC, 5/27/03,
p.A12)
2003 May 24, Furious crowds hurled
debris and insults at Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika when he
visited a town devastated by a deadly earthquake.
(AP, 5/24/04)
2003 Jun 30, In Algeria a military
plane slammed into a house west of the capital, killing at least 12
people, including women and children on the ground.
(AP, 6/30/03)
2003 Jul 4, In Algeria suspected
Islamic militants killed Lawmaker Rabah Radja and three other people at
a roadblock east of the capital.
(AP, 7/5/03)
2003 Aug 18, A six-month ordeal
for 14 European tourists kidnapped by Islamic extremists while on
desert safaris in Algeria has ended with their release to officials in
neighboring Mali.
(AP, 8/19/03)
2003 Sep 27, The Algerian army
reported that it had killed 150 armed Islamic militants in a two-week
operation in the eastern foothills of this north African country.
(AP, 9/27/03)
2003 Nov 27, Talal
al-Rasheed, a prominent Saudi poet, was shot to death by attackers
while on a hunting trip in Algeria.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2004 Jan 19, In Algeria an
explosion at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex in the port city of
Skikda killed 23 and left 74 people injured.
(AP, 1/20/04)(WSJ, 5/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Apr 8, Algeria held elections
seen as a turning point toward democracy for the North African nation
after a bloody Islamic insurgency. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was
re-elected with 83% of the vote, but his challenger cried foul and
promised to appeal.
(AP, 4/9/04)(SFC, 4/10/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 22, Algerian officials
said the Salafists, a rebel group linked to al Qaeda, were in surrender
talks to end a 12-year Islamic insurgency.
(WSJ, 4/23/04, p.A1)
2004 May 14, Algerian officials
reported that 13 of the countries 48 provinces were infested with
swarms of desert locusts.
(ST, 5/14/04, p.A1)
2004 Jun 2, In eastern Algeria
insurgents ambushed an Algerian military convoy night, killing at least
10 soldiers and wounding 45 others.
(AP, 6/2/04)
2004 Jun 5, French engineering
giant Alstom said a consortium it was leading had signed an
88-million-euro ($107 mil) contract for work on three railway lines in
the suburbs of Algiers.
(AP, 6/6/04)
2004 Jun 17, Algerian troops
killed one of North Africa's most-wanted terrorist leaders, who allied
his group with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Nabil Sahraoui (also
known as Abu Ibrahim Mustapha), one of his key right-hand men and a
"good number" of other Salafist lieutenants were killed in a military
sweep.
(AP, 6/20/04)(SFC, 6/21/04, p.A6)
2004 Aug 11, In Algeria an appeals
court upheld a two-year prison term for one of Algeria's best known
journalists in a case seen by many as a pretext to crush press freedom.
(AP, 8/12/04)
2004 Sep 6, Algeria's largest
Islamic rebel group with ties to al Qaeda said it has appointed a new
chief, known as an explosives expert, as it tries to regroup following
the loss of key leaders in recent gun battles with authorities.
(Reuters, 9/6/04)
2004 Sep 29, In northern Norway an
Algerian asylum seeker on a commuter plane attacked both pilots and a
passenger with an ax as the aircraft was landing.
(AP, 9/29/04)
2004 Oct 22, Suspected Algerian
Islamic militants killed 16 people near Medea in the first attack on
civilians since the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/23/04)
2004 Oct 25, Suspected Islamic
militants decapitated three soldiers in Algeria in an upsurge of
violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 10/27/04)
2004 Oct 28, Amar Saifi, one of
North Africa's most wanted Islamic militant leaders, was taken into
custody in Algeria. The No. 2 leader of the Salafists is accused in the
kidnapping of 32 European tourists last year.
(Reuters, 10/29/04)(WSJ, 10/29/04, p.A1)
2004 Nov 4, Algerian Islamic
rebels killed two policemen in the latest attack during the holy month
of Ramadan.
(Reuters, 11/5/04)
2004 Nov 13, Severe storms sank
one ship and drove two aground near Algiers port, killing three seamen.
About 20 sailors remained missing.
(Reuters, 11/14/04)
2004 Dec 11, Said Barkat,
Algeria’s Agriculture Minister, said almost 170 million euros (225
million dollars) have been spent since 2003 dealing with locust
infestation of farmland.
(AP, 12/12/04)
2004 Dec 16, Farouk Ksentini, an
Algerian government-appointed official, said security forces members
are believed responsible for the deaths of 5,200 civilians who
disappeared during a decade-long struggle with Islamic rebels and
should face justice.
(AP, 12/17/04)
2004 Dec 25, Algeria's Energy
Minister Chakib Khelil said exports of oil and gas will bring in over
31 billion dollars (24 billion euros) in 2004.
(AP, 12/26/04)
2004 Dec 26, In eastern Algeria a
gas explosion killed 17 people and injured at least 40 others when a
residential block collapsed.
(Reuters, 12/26/04)
2005 Jan 1, Algeria was forecast
for 8.2% annual GDP growth with a population at 33.9 million and GDP
per head at $2,360.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.93)
2005 Jan 3, The Algerian Interior
Ministry said security forces had arrested the leader of the Armed
Islamic Group, the radical insurgency movement responsible for brutal
village massacres several years ago, and killed his replacement. The
arrest of Nourredine Boudiafi and the killing of Chaabane Younes were
near-fatal blows to the seriously weakened GIA, as the movement is
known. Islamic extremists killed 18 people in an ambush of an army
convoy south of the capital Algiers.
(AP, 1/4/05)(AFP, 1/5/05)
2005 Jan 16, Algeria's government
signed an agreement to end years of conflict with the restive Berber
minority, pledging to accept long-standing demands including greater
recognition of the Berber language.
(AP, 1/16/05)
2005 Mar 12, Algeria's minister
for energy and mines said OPEC has reached its production limit, and
trying to stretch output by one million barrels per day isn't likely to
lower oil prices.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Apr 13, Algerian Islamic
militants killed five people, including three security force members,
and injured eight others in attacks ahead of an expected general
amnesty.
(Reuters, 4/14/05)
2005 May 17, In Algeria 3 soldiers
and 2 militants were killed during an air and ground offensive by
government forces against Islamic rebels in the mountains east of the
capital.
(Reuters, 5/19/05)
2005 Jun 14, A senior US military
official said up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are from
Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic extremists in
northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Jun 25, Algerian militant
Amari Saifi, a leader of the al-Qaida-linked Salafist Group for Call
and Combat, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for helping to
create a terror group. He was considered the mastermind of the 2003
kidnapping of 32 European tourists in the Sahara desert.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun, The Trans-Sahara
Counter-Terrorism Initiative began operations. The US funded plan
intended to provide military equipment and development aid to 9
north-east African countries considered fertile ground for Muslim
militant groups. Participating countries included Algeria, Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia.
(SFC, 12/27/05, p.A1)
2005 Jul 21, The chief of
Algeria's diplomatic mission, Ali Belaroussi, and fellow envoy Azzedine
Belkadi were seized at gunpoint from the upscale Mansour district of
western Baghdad. In an Internet statement 2 days later al-Qaida in Iraq
said it was responsible.
(AP, 7/23/05)
2005 Jul 26, Al-Qaida in Iraq said
it had condemned to death two Algerian diplomats who were abducted in
Baghdad. A video made public showed the men blindfolded and in
captivity.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Aug 14, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika unveiled a draft charter for peace and national
reconciliation that will be put to a referendum on September 29.
(AFP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 19, In Algeria Islamic
militants killed six hikers in the forests of Ravin Bleu in the Batna
region, 530 kilometers east of Algiers.
(AP, 8/21/05)
2005 Sep 22, In Algeria Al
Qaeda-aligned Islamic militants killed 10 people, including seven
soldiers, in separate ambushes. The ambushes were blamed on the GSPC,
which is split on whether to support a September 29 referendum on a
partial amnesty in exchange for laying down their arms.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 29, Algerians voted on a
peace plan the government says will help turn the page on a brutal
Islamic insurgency that left an estimated 120,000 dead. Critics,
however, say the plan will whitewash past crimes.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Sep 30, Official referendum
results showed Algerians overwhelmingly approved a peace plan that
provides a broad amnesty for Islamic extremists, but which critics
denounced as a whitewash of crimes committed during a bloody internal
war. The Charter on Peace and National Reconciliation granted a broad
amnesty to militants and offered some financial compensation to
families of at least 6,000 “disappeared.”
(AP, 9/30/05)(Econ, 10/8/05, p.56)
2005 Oct 1, A banned Algerian
Islamic group with ties to al-Qaida rejected an amnesty for Islamic
militants, saying in a statement on its Web site that it had no need
for a government peace plan.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Nov 12, Africa Union leaders
from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal met in
Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the challenges of the
global order: Desirability of union government," with the leaders
discussing the broad principles of integration.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Dec 20, In Algeria the facade
of a dilapidated hotel collapsed in Algiers, killing eight people and
injuring 21 others.
(AP, 12/20/05)
2006 Jan 11, Samir Ait Mohamed, an
Algerian-born man accused of helping in the plot to bomb the Los
Angeles airport on the millennium, was quietly deported from Canada
after years fighting for refugee status there.
(AP, 1/13/06)
2006 Feb 12, In Algiers Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met with senior government leaders on what
Pentagon officials said they believe to be the first visit to Algeria
by a US defense secretary.
(AP, 2/12/06)
2006 Feb 14, The UNHCR said the
floods last week left more than 50,000 Sahrawi refugees homeless,
destroying up to half of the mud-brick houses in their camps of Awserd,
Smara and Laayoune in the Tindouf region of western Algeria. Tents,
blankets and other emergency aid were being rushed to the camps in the
Algerian Sahara hit by rare torrential rains.
(AP, 2/15/06)
2006 Mar 1, Algeria said it will
release more than 2,000 Islamist ex-fighters soon under an amnesty to
promote reconciliation after years of conflict in the oil-exporting
country.
(Reuters, 3/2/06)
2006 Mar 4, Algeria began
releasing former Islamist fighters from prison, fulfilling an amnesty
aimed at promoting national reconciliation after more than a decade of
conflict.
(Reuters, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 5, In Algeria a young man
injured three police officers and was then killed by a policeman in
Zeralda, a suburb of Algiers, triggering riots in which youths attacked
public buildings.
(AFP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 11, Algeria signed a $7.5
billion deal with visiting Pres. Putin for Russian fighter aircraft,
tanks and anti-aircraft missiles.
(Econ, 2/10/07,
p.45)(http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/2-2006/item3/item2/)
2006 Mar 18, In Algeria Farouk
Ksentini, the head of the government human rights body said up to
200,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamic insurgency.
(AFP, 3/18/06)
2006 Mar 21, An earthquake hit the
northeast Algerian town of Laalam east of Algiers killing at least four
people and injuring 53.
(AFP, 3/21/06)
2006 Apr 7, In southern Algeria
gunmen attacked a convoy of customs agents traveling through the
desert, killing 13 and wounding eight others.
(AP, 4/7/06)
2006 May 13, In Algeria security
forces found 28 bodies, most of them children, in a secluded cave used
as a hideout by an Algerian Islamic militant group.
(AP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 24, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika appointed Abdelaziz Belkhadem as the country's
prime minister.
(AFP, 5/24/06)
2006 Jun 24, Algeria’s state news
reported that Algeria had agreed with Canada for early repayment of its
debt totaling some $255 million, the eighth such accord with creditor
countries since mid-May. Algeria has signed accords covering 3.25
billion of an estimated $8 billion. Apart from Canada, they cover
France (1.6 billion), Portugal (20 million), the Netherlands (45
million), Belgium (225 million), Denmark (54.3 million), Austria (396
million) and Spain (690 million). Agreements would be concluded this
week with Sweden, for $11 million, and Finland for 15 million. The main
creditors still outstanding include Italy, which is owed $1.7 billion,
and the United States, 1.2 billion.
(AFP, 6/24/06)
2006 Jun 25, Algerian soldiers
launched a major assault on a hideout of Islamic insurgents, killing 19
militants, including the regional emir, Merouani (40).
(AP, 6/26/06)
2006 Jun 28, Published remarks by
Algeria’s Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said about 200
Islamist fighters have so far surrendered under an amnesty aimed at
ending years of violence.
(AP, 6/28/06)
2006 Sep 14, Current and former
French officials specializing in terrorism said that an al-Qaida
alliance with the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by
its French initials GSPC, was cause for concern. Al-Qaida's No. 2,
Ayman al-Zawahri, announced the "blessed union" in a video posted this
week on the Internet to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11
attacks in the United States.
(AP, 9/15/06)
2006 Oct 2, Italian police said
they had smashed an Algerian Islamic fundamentalist cell that gave
logistical support to suspected militants in Algeria.
(Reuters, 10/2/06)
2006 Oct 15, Algerian Energy
Minister Chehib Khelil said that the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries will announce a 1 million barrel a day cut in crude
production during a meeting in Qatar.
(AP, 10/15/06)
2006 Oct 30, In Algeria 3 people
were killed and 24 wounded in near-simultaneous truck bomb attacks
overnight on two police stations in Reghaia town, 30 km (20 miles) east
of the capital, and the eastern Algiers suburb of Dergana. Witnesses
called it the most elaborate assault by Islamist rebels in several
years.
(Reuters, 10/30/06)
2006 Nov 2, Algerian rebels shot
dead 8 soldiers in an ambush in the heaviest reported government losses
for seven months in the north African country's lingering political
violence.
(Reuters, 11/4/06)
2006 Nov 9, In Algeria 7 members
of the security forces were killed in an ambush during a cleanup
operation in a forest used as a hideout by Islamic extremists, and 13
others were injured, four of them seriously.
(AP, 11/10/06)
2006 Nov 15, Algeria agreed to
repay ahead of schedule its total debt to Germany, 372 million dollars,
due to the oil-rich country's surge in revenues. Algeria will invest
70% of the saved interest, about 67 million dollars, 52 million euros,
through 2011, in a water supply project for the western city of Tlemcen
and the Maghnia-Ghazaouet region.
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 18, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika appealed for private investment in the North
African country as he opened the 10th congress of Arab businessmen in
Algiers.
(AFP, 11/18/06)
2006 Nov 28, Ten suspected
Islamist militants were killed in clashes with the Algerian army, which
was conducting sweeps in remote mountainous regions.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 10, In Algeria assailants
hurled a bomb and shot at two vehicles transporting employees in the
town of Bouchaoui, 9 miles west of Algiers. The Salafist Group for Call
and Combat, known by its French acronym GSPC, claimed responsibility
for the attack.
(AP, 12/11/06)
2006 Algeria’s state of emergency
was prolonged for a 14th year.
(Econ, 9/2/06, p.44)
2007 Jan 26, The last Islamic
militant group still fighting in the 16-year-old civil war against
Algeria's government said in an Internet statement posted that it had
changed its name to highlight its allegiance to the Al-Qaeda network.
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) said that it was
changing its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb
(northwest Africa) on the orders of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
(AFP, 1/26/07)(Econ, 8/18/07, p.38)
2007 Feb 13, In Algeria 7 bombs
went off almost simultaneously, killing six people east of the capital
Algiers in an elaborate assault by suspected Islamist rebels. The
Salafist group Call and Command claimed responsibility under its new
name: al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa.
(Reuters, 2/13/07)(SFC, 2/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Feb 19, An official said
Algeria has translated the Koran into the Berber language, Tamazight,
for the first time, to promote Islam among a community that has long
campaigned for more language and cultural rights.
(Reuters, 2/19/07)
2007 Mar 3, In Algeria 4 workers
from Russia and Ukraine and three Algerians were killed in a bomb
attack on a bus near the town of Ain Defla, south of the capital
Algiers.
(AFP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 4, In Algeria suspected
Islamic militants attacked a police checkpoint with rocket-propelled
grenades and machine guns, killing five officers and wounding three
others.
(AP, 3/4/07)
2007 Mar 10, A flash flood killed
six people in southern Algeria when torrential rains caused wadis to
overflow, while high winds brought down trees and walls.
(AFP, 3/10/07)
2007 Mar 22, Rafik Khalifa (40),
the head of a bank at the centre of Algeria's biggest corruption
scandal, was sentenced in absentia to life in prison. Khalifa has been
exiled in London since 2003, when hundreds of millions of dollars was
discovered missing from the Khalifa Bank. Algeria has been seeking his
extradition. The exiled former governor of the central bank,
Abdelawahab Keramane, and five others were also sentenced in abstentia
to 20 years in prison.
(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Algeria an
international desertification conference closed with a call (dubbed the
Algiers Appeal) to all African countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol,
to help slow the rapid expansion of deserts on the continent.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 7, Suspected Islamist
militants opened fire on a military patrol in northwestern Algeria,
starting a gunbattle that left nine soldiers and six attackers dead.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Algeria bombs
heavily damaged the prime minister's office in Algiers and a police
station, killing 33 people and wounding over 200.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 16, Hassan Hattab, the
founder of the group that claimed responsibility for last week's deadly
Algiers bombings, called on militants to put down their weapons under a
government amnesty and stop trying to turn Algeria into a "second
Iraq." Hattab made the comments in a published letter to President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 May 8, Algeria’s El-Watan
newspaper reported that authorities have arrested 5 people believed
responsible for organizing deadly terrorist attacks last month.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 10-2007 May 11, Seven
Islamic extremists and two members of Algeria's security forces were
killed in the violent run-up to parliamentary elections.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In eastern Algeria 6
armed Islamist extremists were killed in Kabylia, in clashes with the
military in the run-up to legislative elections. Algeria's official
news agency APS said Algerian security forces had arrested three Libyan
Islamic militants planning to join al Qaeda's north African wing.
Algerian soldiers killed four armed militants in a clash near the
village of Ghoumrassa.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Al Qaeda-linked
Algerian rebels facing stepped up assaults by the army set off a bomb
killing three soldiers including an officer east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Algerian troops,
stepping up assaults on al Qaeda's north African wing after suicide
bombings last month, killed 13 Islamist fighters east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, In Algeria bombs
killed a police officer and wounded five other people on the eve of
parliamentary elections, prompting fears of renewed Islamist extremism.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, Algerians, shaken by
al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombings and dealing with a tough economy,
slowly trickled to vote in legislative elections under tight police
security.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, Algeria’s Interior
Ministry announced that the National Liberation Front party, which has
dominated Algerian political life since independence in 1962, kept its
leading position in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 19, Algerian official
news reported that security forces had dismantled a suspected support
network linked to twin terror bombings last month in the capital that
killed 30 people.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Algeria Hassan
Hattab, fugitive founder of the extremist Salafist Group for Preaching
and Combat (GSPC), was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for
setting up an armed terrorist group by a court in Tizi-Ouzou.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Algeria one person
was killed and 8 injured in a powerful bomb blast in the Kabylie region.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 9, Officials from Algeria
and the US signed a protocol agreement which will pave the way towards
closer cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 10, Algerian security
forces said they have arrested 13 minors and dismantled a suspected
training camp used by an al-Qaeda linked group east of the capital
Algiers.
(AFP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 19, The Algerian
government approved a plan to set up an academy of the Amazigh
language, spoken by the Berber minority, many of whom live in Kabylie
in the mountainous north of the country.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 22, Algerian soldiers
shot and killed six armed Islamists near Algiers, while two guards died
in homemade bomb blasts at a gas pipeline southeast of the capital.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun, Algeria began
construction on a $425 million hybrid power plant at Hassi R’mel. It
will use sun and natural gas to generate 150 megawatts, 25 of which
will come from solar panels, beginning in 2010. Solar panels were
already in use for 18 off-grid Sahara villages.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A25)
2007 Jul 6, EU officials said they
have asked Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to join patrols of Europe's
border control agency in a bid to stop massive clandestine immigration.
(AFP, 7/6/07)
2007 Jul 7, A court in Algeria's
Kabylie region sentenced Said Sahnoun, a correspondent for newspapers
in sub-Saharan Africa, to 10 years in prison for spying for Israel.
(Reuters, 7/8/07)
2007 Jul 7, Algeria's state oil
and gas company and KBR Inc., a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary,
signed a $2.88 billion deal for a liquefied natural gas plant.
(AP, 7/7/07)
2007 Jul 11, In Algeria a suicide
bomber blew up a refrigerated truck loaded with explosives at a
military encampment outside Algiers, killing 10 soldiers and wounding
35.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2007 Jul 14, In Algeria about 50
members of the Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb attacked
two police stations in Yaourene village in Tizi Ouzou province, about
100 km (60 miles) east of Algiers. The Algerian army halted the attack
and killed 4 in the northeastern Kabylie region.
(Reuters, 7/15/07)
2007 Jul 21, Security sources said
a week-long offensive by Algerian special forces in a mountainous area
east of Algiers has killed between eight and 11 Islamist militants.
(AFP, 7/21/07)
2007 Jul 22, Niger's PM Seyni
Oumarou and military chiefs met neighboring Algeria's President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika to discuss cross-border cooperation against
Tuareg-led rebels in Niger's desert north.
(AP, 7/22/07)
2007 Jul 25, Miguel Angel
Moratinos, Spain’s Foreign Minister arrived in Algeria on a visit aimed
at strengthening cooperation in energy and sorting out a row with
Madrid's top gas supplier.
(AP, 7/25/07)
2007 Aug 4, Algerian newspapers
reported that the army, stepping up a counter-offensive after attacks
by al Qaeda's north Africa wing, has killed around 16 of the group's
fighters in the past three days.
(AP, 8/4/07)
2007 Sep 1, The industry ministry
of Algiers announced that Algeria is inviting bids to privatize 13
companies in the electronics, iron, and public works sectors.
(AP, 9/2/07)
2007 Sep 6, In Algeria a bomb
ripped through a crowd waiting for the Algerian president to arrive in
Batna, killing 22 people and injuring more than 107.
(AFP, 9/7/07)
2007 Sep 8, A booby-trapped car
exploded at a barracks housing coast guard officials, killing 30
officers in Algeria's second terror attack this week. Al-Qaida in
Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility. The suicide bomber was
reported to be a 15-year-old student.
(AP, 9/8/07)(AP, 9/9/07)(AP, 9/10/07)
2007 Sep 14, In Algeria a bomb
hidden in a bag exploded outside a compound housing police officials in
Zemmouri, killing three people.
(AP, 9/15/07)
2007 Sep 21, A bomb attack near a
city east of Algiers injured two French citizens, one Italian and six
Algerians, including five police.
(AFP, 9/21/07)
2007 Sep 24, In Algeria 3 civil
guards were killed when their patrol was ambushed by an armed group in
Tassedane in the eastern region of Mila. A serviceman was killed and
five others injured when several homemade bombs exploded in scrubland
at Ma-Labiod.
(AFP, 9/26/07)
2007 Sep 28, In Algiers an
Arab-language daily reported that Hassan Hattab (40), one of the most
hardline guerrilla chiefs opposed to Algeria's government, has
surrendered. Hattab, aka Abou Hamza, founded the Salafist Movement for
Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 1998. Al Hayat, based in London,
reported that Hattab was "arrested on September 22 by Algerian security
services.
(AP, 9/29/07)
2007 Oct 6, Sofiane el-Fassila
(b.1975), an alleged mastermind (alias Hareg Zoheir, Zobeir Harkat) of
several recent suicide bombing attacks in Algeria, was shot dead with 2
suspected accomplices in the town of Boghni. He was the deputy chief of
al Qaeda's North Africa wing and believed to be the group's operational
leader. Security officials said 8 soldiers and four Islamic extremists
have been killed in the last few days in eastern Algeria.
(AFP, 10/6/07)(AP,
10/10/07)(www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20071011/world.htm#8)
2007 Oct 12, In Algeria a police
officer was assassinated in one of two attacks in the northern Tizi
Ouzou region. At about the same time, five soldiers were injured when
Islamists fired at a military checkpoint near the neighboring town of
Boghni.
(AFP, 10/15/07)
2007 Oct 13, In Algeria 4 armed
Islamists were killed by security forces near the town of Thenia, about
50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Algiers.
(AFP, 10/15/07)
2007 Oct 20,
France handed Algeria details of where its forces laid some 3
million landmines on the country's eastern and western borders from
1956-1959.
(AFP, 10/20/07)
2007 Oct 27, Algerian security
sources said the army killed 17 Islamist rebels during security
operations in the east of the country over three days this week.
(AP, 10/27/07)
2007 Nov 5, Ten Islamic
fundamentalists convicted of a terrorist attack were sentenced to death
in their absence by an Algerian court. The group was behind a bomb
attack on a police patrol in June 2003 in which nine officers were
killed.
(AFP, 11/7/07)
2007 Nov 10, In Algeria 3 people
were wounded when a booby trapped car exploded near a police residence
in the northern town of Mahatmas.
(AFP, 11/11/07)
2007 Nov 14, Abdelhamid Sadaoui,
also known as Abou El Haythem, was killed and another Islamist wounded
during clashes with the Algerian army in the restive northeastern
Kabylia region. Sadaoui was believed to be the treasurer of Al-Qaeda's
North African branch.
(AFP, 11/16/07)
2007 Nov 17, In eastern Algeria a
gas explosion in an old house killed six people and injured another
eight.
(AFP, 11/17/07)
2007 Nov 18, British ambassador
Andrew Anderson said Algeria has formally demanded the extradition from
Britain of former Algerian bank chief Rafik Khalifa, sentenced to life
over a massive embezzlement scandal.
(AP, 11/18/07)
2007 Nov 27, In Algeria officials
said floods caused by days of torrential rain have killed 11 people,
injured several others and have cut off many roads in northern Algeria.
(AFP, 11/28/07)
2007 Nov 29, Algeria's ruling
National Liberation Front (FLN) won local elections on a turnout of 43
percent.
(AFP, 11/30/07)
2007 Dec 1, Officials said a week
of heavy rains in northern Algeria caused the death of 15 people, while
three more people are missing feared dead.
(AFP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 3, Ten people believed to
be Algerian asylum seekers drowned while a Dutch ship tried to rescue
them in stormy Mediterranean waters. Two men survived the ordeal.
(AP, 12/5/07)
2007 Dec 4, France and Algeria
agreed to cooperate on civilian nuclear technologies. French oil group
Total said it had signed a deal to invest about 1.5 billion dollars in
a new 3.0-billion-dollar (2.0 billion euros) petrochemical plant in
Algeria.
(AFP, 12/4/07)(AP, 12/4/07)
2007 Dec 11, In Algeria car bombs
exploded minutes apart in central Algiers, heavily damaging UN
buildings and ripping the facade off the wing of a government office.
37 people were killed, including 17 UN employees. Two convicted
terrorists who had been freed in an amnesty carried out the suicide
bombings at UN and government buildings. The interior ministry later
said the blasts were the work of the El Farouk Brigade, which was
responsible for a number of other attacks in the last two years.
Al-Qaida's self-styled North African branch claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 12/11/07)(AP, 12/12/07)(AP, 12/13/07)(AFP,
2/6/08)(AP, 12/11/08)
2007 Dec 26, A roadside bomb
targeting a police patrol exploded east of Algeria's capital, killing
two officers and injuring two others. The attack came as authorities
rounded up 11 suspected members of two suspected support networks for
armed Islamic militant groups in recent days.
(AP, 12/27/07)
2008 Jan 2, In Algeria a car bomb
exploded near a police station in Naciria east of Algiers, killing at
least four people and ripping off the building's façade.
(AFP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 8, In Algeria an army
commander and three members of the security forces were killed during
an operation aimed at flushing out an Islamist group in scrubland in
the north of the country. The sweep, aided by helicopters, was intended
to flush out a group of 10-15 new recruits to the Al-Qaeda of the
Islamic Maghreb group, who were intent on launching attacks on
Constantine.
(AP, 1/9/08)
2008 Jan 19, In Algeria an armed
Islamist was killed in a clash with anti-terrorist security forces at
Tebessa, near the Tunisian border while a fourth man died at Jijel,
also in the east. His weapon was seized.
(AFP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 20, In Algeria 2 armed
suspects died in the Eddough mountains, near the eastern city of
Annaba, after they failed to follow orders to surrender.
(AFP, 1/21/08)
2008 Jan 28, Abderrahmane
Bouzegza, leader of the Dec 11 attacks in Algiers, was killed by the
army at Boumerdes, east of the capital. 4 others responsible for the
attacks were arrested in February.
(AFP, 2/6/08)
2008 Jan 29, In northern Algeria a
car loaded with explosives and headed for a police station exploded
after officers stopped the attack with bullets. At least two people
were killed and 23 wounded.
(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Feb 7, In eastern Algeria
suspected Islamist militants gunned down eight police officers in a
late night ambush outside the village of Ain R'Ghiya. In a separate
morning attack, another officer was killed and one injured in the
village of Boukalfa.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 17, In Algeria African
Union energy ministers launched a new energy organization for Africa
tasked with coordinating policy for the resource-rich continent.
(AP, 2/17/08)
2008 Feb 26, In Algeria the "emir"
Hamza (alias Abdi Abdi), a suspected leader of al-Qaida's local
affiliate, was killed during the sweep in the town of Legatha.
(AP, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 27, French ambassador
Bernard Bajolet said France has handed Algeria details of radioactive
leaks from nuclear tests in the Algerian desert in the 1960s and should
have acted earlier to clean up the damage.
(Reuters, 2/27/08)
2008 Feb 29, Algerian security
forces chased some 30 Islamic insurgents planting roadside bombs back
into their refuge east of the Algiers.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Mar 1, Algerian troops called
in helicopters and assaulted a hideout with rockets and helicopter
fire, killing 25 members of an al-Qaida affiliate in North Africa.
(AP, 3/2/08)
2008 Mar 7, Algerian authorities
seized 2 tons of cannabis on the border with Morocco. 2 more tons were
seized Mar 3. The total was valued at around 4 million euros.
(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 8, In Algeria Al Qaeda's
wing in north Africa said in an Internet posting that it has killed 20
Algerian soldiers and wounded 30 in clashes in its eastern stronghold,
where the army has launched a campaign against the rebels.
(Reuters, 3/9/08)
2008 Apr 14, Algeria, the world’s
4th largest gas exporter, said it will and stop signing long term gas
contracts and switch to shorter term ones.
(WSJ, 4/15/08, p.A14)
2008 Apr 27, A summit aimed at
kick-starting Maghreb economic integration was disrupted when Moroccan
and Algerian government ministers clashed over the disputed Western
Sahara region.
(AFP, 4/28/08)
2008 May 11, In Algeria 6
government troops died in an ambush allegedly by armed members of the
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) as the soldiers were in
a truck patrolling Medea province.
(AFP, 5/13/08)
2008 May 12, In Algeria 3
government troops were killed in an ambush allegedly set by the
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) 120 kilometers (75
miles) east of Algiers in Bouira province.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2008 Jun 3, Four Algerian
Christians received suspended jail terms and fines for seeking to
convert Muslims in the latest in a series of cases to have provoked
accusations in the West of religious repression.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 4, In Algeria 2
simultaneous bombs in Bordj El Kiffan, a suburb of Algiers, killed a
suicide bomber and injured six others. The blasts targeted a barracks
and a seaside café.
(AP, 6/6/08)
2008 Jun 5, In Algeria a bomb
attack blamed on Islamist militants killed six Algerian soldiers and
wounded four in Cap Djinet, east of Algiers.
(AFP, 6/6/08)
2008 Jun 8, In Algeria 2 bombs
exploded at a railway station east of Algiers reportedly killing 13
people. Officials the next day said only 2 people, a French engineer
and his driver, were killed in the bombings.
(Reuters, 6/8/08)(AP, 6/9/08)
2008 Jun 13, A Spanish judge
jailed six Algerians on provisional charges of aiding terror groups
linked to al-Qaida in North Africa.
(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 23, Algeria's president
named Ahmed Ouyahia, a pragmatist known for his tough line against
Islamic extremists, as the country's prime minister, his third stint in
the post.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2008 Jun, Algeria’s
mobile-telephone market rose to some 28 million, up from 1.4 million
four years earlier. Two-thirds of the market was run by Egyptian and
Qatari firms.
(Econ, 6/14/08, p.64)
2008 Jul 13, Algeria’s government
newspaper El Moudjhaid said a consortium of British-based oil services
company Petrofac and Indonesian engineering company IKPT provisionally
won a contract to build an LNG plant in western Mediterranean port of
Arzew.
(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 17, Algeria and Germany
wound up two days of talks in Algiers with a call for more economic
cooperation between the two countries.
(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, In Algeria a truck
and a bus collided on one of the main highways in the Relizane region
killing 7 people with 28 seriously injured.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, The US Treasury moved
to freeze assets of four Algerians it said were leaders of an al
Qaeda-affiliated group responsible for deadly bombings in Algeria last
month.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 18, In Algeria the
government of Mali and ethnic Tuareg rebels reached a truce agreement
in dangerous northern Mali. One faction of the Tuareg group refused to
sign the deal, saying it did not do enough to help the Tuaregs.
(AP, 7/22/08)
2008 Jul 30, Morocco's King
Mohammed VI condemned Algeria's continuing closure of their common
border, despite repeated calls by Rabat for it to be reopened. Algiers
has set a global settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara as a
precondition for reopening the border, which it closed in 1994 after
Morocco claimed Algerian secret service agents were behind an Islamist
extremist attack in Marrakesh.
(AFP, 7/30/08)
2008 Aug 3, In Algeria 21 people,
six of them policemen, were injured in a suicide car bomb attack in the
town of Tizi Ouzou in Algeria's Kabylie region.
(AFP, 8/3/08)
2008 Aug 7, In Algeria 18 people
were reported dead from a crash between a van and a bus near the city
of Mascara, and 25 were reported injured. Three men who were in
critical condition subsequently died.
(AFP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 8, In Algeria 12 armed
Islamists, including a number of individuals considered among the
leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, were killed overnight by the army
in an ambush near Beni Douala, near Tizi Ouzou.
(AFP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 9, In Algeria a suicide
car bomb attack on security forces killed at least eight people and
injured 19 others in the coastal town of Zemmouri el Bahri, east of
Algiers, the second such blast this month.
(AFP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 14, A colonel in the
Algerian army and another soldier were killed in a bomb attack in the
Jijel region.
(AFP, 8/16/08)
2008 Aug 17, In eastern Algeria
rebels linked to al Qaeda had killed eight policemen, three soldiers
and a civilian in successive ambushes. 4 Islamist militants were killed
in the attack.
(AFP, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 19, A suicide car bomb
attack east of Algiers killed 43 people and wounded 45. The attack
targeted a paramilitary gendarmerie training school at Issers. Most of
the dead were young men aged between 18 and 20.
(Reuters, 8/19/08)
2008 Aug 20, In eastern Algeria 2
car bomb attacks killed at least 11 people in Bouira with at least 31
people wounded. This followed a suicide bomber who killed 43 people a
day earlier.
(AFP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 24, Algerian security
forces killed 10 Islamist rebels in a security operation southwest of
the capital.
(Reuters, 8/25/08)
2008 Aug 26, The Pentagon said two
men were cleared for release to Algeria from Guantanamo, Cuba, where
about 260 detainees remained.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Sep 28, In Algeria a
suspected suicide bombing killed three people and wounded six in a
village east of Algiers.
(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep, From Algeria Andrew
Warren, a CIA station chief and a convert to Islam, was sent back to
the United States after two women came forward with charges of rape
after lacing their drinks with a drug.
(AP, 1/29/09)(SFC, 7/1/09, p.A4)
2008 Oct 1, Two days of torrential
rains in the Algerian desert created flash floods. 43 deaths were later
confirmed.
(AP, 10/2/08)(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Oct 7, Algerian PM Ahmed
Ouyahia said there had been 250 million euros worth of damage, largely
to infrastructure, from the recent flooding.
(AP, 10/12/08)
2008 Oct 12, Algeria announced it
will spend 500 million euros (675 million dollars) on protecting towns
from flooding as the death toll from floods this month rose to 43.
(AFP, 10/12/08)
2008 Nov 2, Dubai Port World (DP
World) said it has agreed on a deal to run the cargo terminal in the
Algerian port Djendjen. The port, which opened in 1993, is the most
commercially important in Algeria.
(AFP, 11/2/08)
2008 Nov 5, In Algeria Fateh
Bouchibane, mayor of Timezrit in the Kabylie region, was abducted and
killed.
(AP, 11/6/08)
2008 Nov 12, Algeria's parliament
overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments that abolish
presidential term limits, paving the way for President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika to seek a third term in spring elections.
(AP, 11/12/08)
2008 Nov 17, Algeria and Argentina
signed an agreement to boost cooperation over civil nuclear energy as
part of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's tour of northern Africa.
(AFP, 11/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, OPEC, meeting in
Algeria, said it is cutting 2.2 million barrels a day from its output,
the largest ever at one time, to stem crude prices that have plummeted
over 70% from summer highs of nearly $150. Members among the 13-nation
organization were officially producing a daily 29.045 million barrels
in September.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2008 Dec 17, Algerian news reports
said Raked Brahim (28) was convicted and jailed for three years for
traveling to Iraq in 2007 to take part in attacks against US forces. He
was detained in Syria and later deported back to Algeria.
(AP, 12/17/08)
2009 Jan 16, An Algerian customs
officer was killed by armed Islamists west of Algiers. The 35-year-old
official had his throat slit after being stopped at a fake barricade
put up and manned by about 10 armed Islamists at Miliana near Ain Defla.
(AFP, 1/17/09)
2009 Jan 17, The US Department of
Defense announced that it transferred six detainees out of Guantanamo,
leaving about 245 at the offshore prison. Four detainees were sent to
Iraq, one to Algeria and one to Afghanistan. Since 2002, more than 525
detainees have departed Guantanamo. Haji Bismullah (29) of Afghanistan
had always insisted that he was no terrorist.
(AP, 1/18/09)(SFC, 1/19/09, p.A4)
2009 Jan 30, In Algeria at least
27 people were wounded and several buildings torched during clashes
among Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in Ghardaia.
(AFP, 1/31/09)
2009 Feb 1, Algerian newspapers
reported that Ali Ben Touati, a leading member of Al-Qaeda's North
African branch, has surrendered to Algerian authorities.
(AFP, 2/1/09)
2009 Feb 12, In eastern Algeria 2
bombs exploded hours after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced he
will run for a new term, killing at least seven people.
(AFP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 15, A series of attacks
in Algeria left seven soldiers and a suspected militant dead, as
authorities ratcheted up efforts to secure the country before
presidential elections. An Algerian newspaper reported that security
forces killed a senior member of Al Qaeda's north African wing after a
tip-off from a former militant led them to his hideout. The daily
Ennahar reported that Mourad Bouzid (65), also known as Ami Slimane,
was a charismatic figure instrumental in recruiting and motivating
younger Al Qaeda fighters.
(AP, 2/16/09)(Reuters, 2/15/09)
2009 Feb 18, Al Qaeda's
Algeria-based branch (AQMI) claimed it is holding two missing Canadian
diplomats hostage. UN envoy Robert Fowler and his aide Louis Guay, went
missing in the West African country of Niger last month.
(SFC, 2/19/09,
p.A2)(www.thestar.com/printArticle/589398)
2009 Feb 22, In eastern Algeria 9
members of a private security firm were killed when Islamist militants
attacked their base near Jijel.
(AFP, 2/23/09)
2009 Feb 28, In Algeria an army
operation in the mountains of Blida province, about 100 kilometers (62
miles) south of Algiers killed 6 Islamist militants. One militant was
killed on Feb 26 before the army took the rest of the group by
surprise. Another 16 were reported killed during a search operation
near Soulahane.
(AFP, 3/2/09)(AFP, 3/3/09)
2009 Mar 7, In Algeria 2 people
were killed and five others wounded in an attack on the barracks of
security forces at Tadmait near Tizi Ouzou east of the capital.
(AP, 3/7/09)
2009 Mar 10, In Algeria border
guards seized 3.5 tons of cannabis in a desert region close to the
frontier with Morocco.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 11, In eastern Algeria
suspected Islamist extremists shot and killed a police officer and
wounded another in a shoot-out near Batna city. 3 armed Islamists were
killed by the security forces in Souk El-Thenine town.
(AFP, 3/12/09)
2009 Mar 14, In Algeria Islamists
cut the throat of a shepherd and 300 of his sheep in Chatabia village
near the Tunisian border. Three family members and an elected official
died in a bomb explosion the following morning as they headed to the
site of the killing.
(AFP, 3/16/09)
2009 Mar 16, At least two Algerian
soldiers were killed when their convoy was hit by roadside bombs in the
east of the country.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 24, The French government
offered for the first time to compensate victims of nuclear tests in
Algeria and the South Pacific, bowing to decades of pressure by people
sickened by radiation.
(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 Apr 9, Algerians voted in a
presidential election that is expected to give the incumbent Abdelaziz
Bouteflika another five years to try to quell terrorism and reform the
North African country's lackluster economy, which is heavily dependent
on oil and gas. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won 90.24% of the vote.
(AP, 4/9/09)(Reuters, 4/10/09)
2009 Apr 10, In Algeria President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika hailed his landslide re-election for a third term
as a "lesson in democracy," but opposition politicians and independent
media alleged fraud at the polls, and the US government expressed
concern.
(AP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 11, Morocco blamed
Algeria for a "serious and blatant" violation by the Polisario Front of
an 18-year-long ceasefire in the disputed Western Sahara and urged the
UN to intervene.
(Reuters, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 13, Algeria’s
constitutional council officially declared Abdelaziz Bouteflika
re-elected as president of Algeria for a third mandate with 90.23% of
the vote on a turnout of 74.56%.
(AFP, 4/13/09)
2009 Apr 19, Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika vowed to pursue national reconciliation, after
being sworn in for a third five-year term.
(AP, 4/19/09)
2009 May 7, In Algeria 4 armed
Islamists were killed by Algerian security forces during firefights in
Tizi Ouzou and Boumerdes, east of the capital Algiers. Two soldiers
died as well, and three assault rifles were seized by the military.
Another Islamist was killed as security forces mounted a joint
operation on an armed group at Kharrouba, near Boumerdes.
(AFP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 26, In Algeria 9 soldiers
were killed near Biskra, 425 kilometers south of the capital, in n
ambush which wounded 10 others.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 2, In Algeria an
estimated 30 Al-Qaida-linked militants killed two teachers and eight
police escorts as they brought copies of tests back from an examination
center in the town of Timezrit, 49 miles east of Algiers.
(AP, 6/3/09)
2009 Jun 12, In Algeria at least
five members of an Islamist militant group were killed near
Constantine, as well as several Islamist clan chiefs in different
regions.
(AFP, 6/18/09)
2009 Jun 13, Algeria's national
oil company Sonatrach announced it had awarded a 79.3-billion-dinar
(1.11-billion-dollar, 793-million-euro) contract to the Canadian
engineering firm SNC-Lavalin to build natural gas processing facilities.
(AFP, 6/13/09)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six
African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people,
and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in
the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and
Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 17, In eastern Algeria
Islamist rebels ambushed a military convoy and killed at least 21
police in the deadliest attack on government forces in the last six
months.
(AFP, 6/18/09)(SFC, 6/19/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 3, Algeria, Niger and
Nigeria signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas
pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.
(AFP, 7/3/09)
2009 Jul 6, The 2nd Panafrican
Festival opened in Algiers and was scheduled to last to July 20. The
first Panafrican Festival took place back in 1969.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 20, Algeria’s Ministry of
Transport said the Chinese civil engineering group CCECC has won 3
contracts worth a total of 1.46 billion euros to build railways in
Algeria.
(AFP, 7/20/09)
2009 Jul 22, The Algerian
government issued a decree effective as of August shifting the dates of
the weekend to Friday and Saturday in a move viewed as a boost the
North African nation's faltering economy. Algeria had observed its
weekends on Thursdays and Fridays since 1976 as do a few other
countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 7/22/09)
2009 Jul 25, In Algeria five
Islamists were killed by the army about 15 km (nine miles) east of Tizi
Ouzou.
(AFP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 26, In northwestern
Algeria members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb killed two local
security officers in an ambush in the Mascara region.
(AFP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 27, Algerian papers
reported that security forces have killed five armed Islamic extremists
in the northeastern Tizi Ouzou region, about 100 km (60 miles) east of
Algiers.
(AFP, 7/27/09)
2009 Jul 28, Algeria's coast guard
arrested 19 illegal migrants in a dinghy off the western town of Arzew,
near Oran, as they tried to reach Europe.
(AP, 7/28/09)
2009 Jul 29, The Algerian media
reported that the army has killed 16 Islamist extremists in separate
operations in recent days. The bodies of eight Islamists were
discovered on July 27-28 near Batna, 435 km (270 miles) southeast of
Algiers, after army shelling followed by a ground operation. 3 other
armed Islamists were killed in two ambushes near Tizi Ouzou, 110 km (70
miles) east of the capital, on July 27-28. At least 11 Algerian
soldiers were killed in an ambush by Islamic extremists while they
escorted a military convoy in an Algerian tourist region outside the
coastal town of Damous. Five Islamists were killed when the soldiers
shot back.
(AFP, 7/29/09)(AFP, 7/30/09)
2009 Aug 15, In northern Algeria
an explosion followed by gunfire left one police officer dead and two
others wounded at a beach. A head-on collision between a lorry and a
minibus killed 16 people on the outskirts of the city of Ghazaouet,
including more than a dozen members of the same family traveling
together.
(AFP, 8/15/09)
2009 Sep 2, In Algeria Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez called for closer economic ties with Algeria,
notably in the energy sector, during a two-day visit here.
(AFP, 9/3/09)
2009 Oct 4, Algerian coastguards
picked up 45 Algerian would-be migrants to Europe at three places off
the coast west of Algiers.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Algeria 10
suspected Islamists and 3 soldiers were killed in a fierce gunbattle
near the Great Erg, the world's largest sand dune, when a convoy of
heavily armed militants was attacked by the Algerian army.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 27, Algeria and Britain
signed a new defense agreement. An embassy spokeswoman said "This
outline agreement aims to regularize cooperation between the two
countries in defense matters, particularly the training of Algerian
officers in Great Britain."
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 29, Algerian security
forces seized 3.5 tons of cannabis as well as weapons and two
all-terrain vehicles in the south of the country.
(AFP, 10/31/09)
2009 Nov 12, Italy's top security
official said that authorities have smashed an international terror
cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in Europe of 17 Algerians
who were raising money to finance terrorism.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 14, Three would-be
migrants drowned, one was rescued and 10 were missing off the Algerian
coast after their boats sank on their way to Europe.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 18, Egyptian fans were
attacked after Algeria won (1-0) a make-or-break World Cup qualifying
game in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and offices of Egyptian
companies in Algeria were ransacked after a matchup in Cairo over the
weekend.
(AP, 11/19/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.52)
2009 Nov 22, An Algerian court
acquitted 2 men who had been held for seven years in the US military
prison in Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of belonging to an extremist
group. Faghoul Abdelli and Mohamed Terari were arrested in Pakistan
after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US and transferred to
Guantanamo Bay where they were held without trial before being sent
home to Algeria last year.
(Reuters, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 29, An Algiers court
sentenced Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian Guantanamo inmate who refuses to
be sent home, to 20 years in prison for belonging to an "overseas
terrorist group." Belbacha, who has been held at the US prison camp
since February 2002 following his arrest in Pakistan, has been deemed
by US authorities as no longer an "enemy combatant" and cleared for
release to Algeria. Belbacha said that he fears torture at home and
refuses to be repatriated. Instead, he has requested political asylum
in the United States.
(AFP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Algerian health
organization (AnisS) warned that thousands of its people are
unknowingly infected with the AIDS virus and called for more testing
and prevention efforts.
(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 29, A security source
said Algerian border guards have seized more than four tons of cannabis
following a skirmish with smugglers.
(AF, 12/29/09)
2010 Jan 4, In Algeria an Algerian
employee of Canadian construction firm SNC-Lavalin was kidnapped by
insurgents southeast of Algiers. The engineer was freed on Jan 7.
(Reuters, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 7, In Algeria a stand-off
with police began in the industrial town of Rouiba after the 5,000
employees of the state-owned National Company of Industrial Vehicles
(SNVI) started an indefinite strike action to demand higher wages and
better terms.
(AP, 1/7/10)
2010 Jan 9, Algerian security
forces killed 10 Islamist rebels in an ambush in the region of M'sila,
400 km (250 miles) east of Algiers. A "large quantity" of weapons were
seized during the operation. Islamists looted and burned a Protestant
church, suggesting they were inspired by a recent spate of religious
intolerance in the Arab and Muslim world.
(Reuters, 1/10/10)(AP, 1/11/10)
2010 Jan 10, In Algeria a
collision between a bus and a truck killed 15 people and injured
another 15 on a major highway in the Ghardaia region in the Sahara
desert.
(Reuters, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 11, Algeria's foreign
ministry said it had summoned the US ambassador to "strongly protest"
the North African country's placing on a 14-nation terror watch list
drawn up by the Obama administration.
(AFP, 1/11/10)
2010 Jan 13, The head of Algeria's
national oil corporation Sonatrach was suspended from his job and
ordered to appear before investigators probing corruption. Mohamed
Meziane was replaced in his job by vice-president Abdelhafid Feghouli.
(AFP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 27, In western Algeria
the Oran criminal court sentenced eight people to jail terms for drug
trafficking. Six of the convicted men were sentenced to 20 years, a
seventh to life and the eighth, who was on the run, was also sentenced
to life, after the seizure in 2008 of two tons of cannabis resin at
Bechar in the southwest.
(AFP, 1/28/10)
2010 Feb 25, In Algeria a police
official shot dead Colonel Ali Tounsi, the national police chief,
during a blazing row in his office in central Algiers.
(AFP, 2/25/10)
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